Without Love - April 6 Readings: 1 Corinthians 13, Love One Another

The Story of the Bible from Creation to the Cross to Eternal Glory

In 72 daily readings, we will examine the overall story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, seeking to get the big picture of God's work through Jesus Christ in this sinful world.

Today's Reading:  1 Corinthians 13

Through the Bible Readings: Joshua 17-18, Luke 7:18–50, Psalm 44:1–7, Proverbs 10:15-16

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Context 

The "Love Chapter" is not about fluffy, sentimental love. It speaks of a gritty, sacrificial, action-oriented love - the kind Jesus Christ demonstrated when he lived on earth and laid down his life for us. He embodied love and we are called to live out that love.

Two things stand out to me. First, it is notable how much time Paul and the other NT writers devote to love, unity, and kindness within the Body of Christ.

Second, it is sad how quick we are to forget that or to treat unity as an unnecessary option. "If he will agree with me, apologize to me, do things my way, we can have unity."

Based on the word of God, the division of the Body of Christ must break the heart of God and hinder the work of God in this world.

Devotional: Without Love

We live in a world of brutal hate. September 11. Al-Qaeda. Isis. A political season that has been more hateful than any I can remember. Every day we witness more atrocities, hear of more wars, read of more broken homes, broken lives, shootings, unspeakably cruel acts. We stand and shake our heads.

Our fleshly response is to fight fire with fire, and certainly, we want our government to enforce justice in this world. But as Christians, we have different weapons with which to fight the spiritual fight in this world. 1 Corinthians 13 describes God's primary weapon - love. When the world rebelled against him and fought his Lordship, he responded with love. And in 1 Corinthians 13 he reminds us that no matter what we do in life, if our lives are not marked by love, they will matter for nothing.

The first three verses are amazing when you think of the things they assert are meaningless without love.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

The preceding chapter was a corrective about the Corinthian's fascination with tongues and other spectacular gifts. But Paul says if you can display the most amazing spiritual giftings (speaking in the tongues of men and angels) but have not love, it's like a loud, annoying cymbal solo. Meaningless noise. If you have prophetic gifts and insights into all the mysteries of God, but you do not live in God's love, or if you have the faith to work miracles that would wow the world, but you do not love others, all your wisdom and all your miraculous power is in vain. Even if you give all your earthly goods away or become a martyr for Christ, but you do it out of selfish motives, not out of a love for Christ and others, there is no reward. All of this is empty and without value unless love is the motive.

The rest of the chapter goes on to define love as Christlike actions - patience, kindness, forgiveness - all those things that Christ did. When we live in Christ, his love works through us to change the lives around us. We can make more of an impact on the world through the love of Christ than in any other way.

We must remember a couple of things about this love. First, these descriptions are actions, not emotions. Our love is measured not by how we feel but by how we act. Second, the descriptions of love are essentially a non-specific biography of Jesus. Every word that describes love describes the life of Jesus. The definition of love is Jesus!

It behooves us to remember the words that Paul ended this chapter with - The greatest of these is love.

Father, may my life not be marked by wisdom or rhetoric alone, but by your love displayed to others day by day. 

Think and Pray:

Consider the story of Christ and his work of redemption in this sinful world.