The Excellence of Love
1If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
The first thing that jumps out is that verses 1 and 2 are talking about spiritual gifts. Speaking in tongues, prophecying, knowledge, knowing hidden things... all those things are things given simply because God chooses to. There is no great work of character that happens to open the door to the gifts. They are given as the Holy Spirit chooses to give. Faith is even included in these verses, which perplexes me a bit because faith really only comes from experiencing God -and anytime you experience God in a way that causes you to be able to walk in mountain-moving faith, a deep work has to be done in your character....
I guess I'll go verse by verse.
But 'love' needs to be defined first... (noun, as defined by Webster) unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another
Further broken down:
unselfish: giving or sharing in abundance, without hesitation
loyal: firm in one's allegiance to someone or something
benevolent: having or marked by consideration or sympathy for others; having or showing concern for the welfare of others (also considered 'charitable' - which some texts use in the place of 'love'... charity)
concern: marked interest or regard, usually arising through a personal tie or relationship
good: for the best
And it all ends up looking something like this:
love: unrestircted loyalty and unwavering commitment to what best serves another.
Which is actually a long way of saying what Paul says in Phillippians: count others better than yourselves.
Verse One: If I can speak in tongues - both foreign and heavenly... if I am able to communicate with both man and angels but do not count them as better than myself, if I do not offer unrestricted loyalty and unwavering commitment to what is in the best interests of those same people.... then all my words don't matter. It's just a bunch of noise. A lot of loud empty sounds.
Because I am not giving them anything of eternal value. Not at all.
And we all know how it feels to receive empty words from people. We know when it's not true, when it's not genuine or heartfelt. And it inspires no desire to embrace anything they have to say or to offer. It lends no creditibility to who they are or what they share.
So... If i'm able to communicate effectively across the board, but am not speaking with an unrestricted loaylty and unwavering commitment to what is in the best intersts of the people to whom I am speaking, I'm just making a lot of noise. The words are going nowhere and are accomplishing nothhing...
Verse Two: If i have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge... and of faith that can move mountains... but do not have love, I am nothing.
The gift of a prophet is special. It is an unique intimacy with God and a different insight than most will ever know. the gift of knowledge is the same.
So... If I am able to see beyond the natural, if I know things beyond what my eyes or ears can discern, if God allows me to walk in such an uncommon spiritual awareness and I do not use that knowledge for to enable me to act with an unrestricted loyalty and unwavering commitment to what is in the best interests of the people involved in situations where I've been given the privilege of such insight and wisdom, then I am worthless. I have no value if I choose not to use the gift to display a heart of concern and compassion for the people God places in my path.
If I have faith that believes that God can do the things that are humanly impossible, if I believe God is God of impossibility but I don't allow that faith to propel me to walk in an unrestricted loyalty and unwavering commitment to what is in the best interests of others - of all those involved in the faith-building circumstance - then I am worthless. Beause faith without works is dead. Faith is acting like a thing is so, in order that it might be so. As it relates to people, to have faith and not ACT in faith toward those for whom you are believing... well are you really acting in faith, or are you just in it for yourself?
And really. That's the culmination of the first two verses. If you are walking in all these wonderful gifts and all this intimacy with God, but you are not using that privilege to the benefit of those in your path, then really. What good are you?
And these words are very personal to me. God's given me spiritual gifts that I very rarely speak of to most people. He's allowed me an uncommon relationship with Him and insights that are a result of that. I know more than is visible; and that is a privilege. One that cant be taken for granted or taken lightly. And one that leads to pride and self-righteousness if it isn't kept in its proper perspective.
Verse Three: And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing
All I can think about when I read this verse is: what's the motivation? What's really in your heart? What's really driving you? Beause if you give all you have away, but you don't do it because it genuinely is a desire to meet the needs of others, then the only OTHER motivation possible is one that is self-serving. If you sacrifice your life,but it's only about you, about how people see you, about the kudos you get for such a great act of service... then dude. Who have you really served? What has it really benefitted you? And what do you have to show for it, besides destitution and disfigurement? And if those things are metaphors of what happens in our spirit when we make all these grand public acts but in our hearts we really only wanted to be seen as these great long-suffering people, that's a sad statement. Beccuase spiritual destitution and disfigurement is painful at best. And deadly to our inner man if left unchecked.
And all that leads me to this: to do anything other than look at this situation in full, based on the knowledge God has chosen to share with me and with faith in His ability to change this thing on a dime, is to walk in pride,ego, self-righteousness and sin. And it doesn't only led to death for them. It leads to death for me in the end. Death in my spirit.
To not offer the unrestricted loyalty and unwavering commitment to what is in their best interests in all this would mean a couple of things. First it would mean that I don't understand what God has given to me, through Christ. Because He has loved me this way. An unmerited grace, unmerited forgiveness and freedom in Him. He has given me a relationship with Him that reflects none of the betray He has experienced at my hand. He has loved me beyond my foolishness and my shameful past. Christ paid a physical price for me and He has not once looked at me and said to God 'Pops. Really. You are taking this just a liiiittle bit too far. Asking just a liiiittle too much on this one. I'm not so sure about it all...' He has always put me first.... my life mattered more to him than his comfort or his reputation. Through this, He's giving me of an understanding than I've ever had of how much He's always loved me and how much He will love me until the end of time. Because no matter what I do, I can never ever deserve what He continuously gives to me...
And second it would mean that I'm ungrateful and unappreciative of what God has given to me. It would make me like that slave who's master gave him release from his debt in full, but who then turned around and went and demanded a fellow slave repay him in full for a much lesser debt. Taking that attitude landed that slave outside his master's good graces. It would make me like that peson who looks in the mirror and doesnt really see -who, as soon as they turn away from the mirror, they forget their own reflection. And I dont want to be either of those people. I dont want to find myself outside God's grace. And I don't want to look at myself and forget what I look like;I dont want to forget who I am or what that means. I dont want to ever lose sight of what God has done in me or given to me...
God's word says that it is for freedom that we have been set free. He didn't lose me from bondage, only to have me hold someone else captive of my own pride. Because that is what this all boils down to. Pride....
He set me free, so that I could find Him. And so that in finding Him, I could be used in HIS way to lead others to the same discovery. And there is privilege in that, even when it hurts. There is privilege in sharing in His sufferings. The beauty in this is far-reaching and its about more than just how I feel or what I want. I wasn't made free to live life on my terms. I was made free to live it on His terms. And that He has chosen to use me to give someone else that same freedom, well that's just something beyond words...
God has been saying to me all along, let it go. Give him a pass. Let him off the hook. And it's made me mad. Because this isn't something that IN MY MIND warrants only a 'i'm so mad at you right now! .... ok. i'm over it. let's go play.' That's how that request felt to me at the time.
But now I get it. I'm starting to get it. This is not about giving him a pass. This is about God working in him to do something beyond soothing my hurt feelings. And as to the other party, this applies even more so in that respect. Because that person needs this just as much as H does. We're connected to one another whether I like it or not and my obedience to forgive and count that person as better than myself matters for us both. It matters in eternity. Letting them off the hook means that God can do His thing. And even though I'm sure He can and will do it whether or not I obey, I'm also sure that I owe Him more loyalty than to think i'm too good to forgive ANY transgression toward me...
I can't ask Him to do for me what I won't do for someone else. Not at all.
Love is not something that you feel. It's not something that you do because it's easy. It's not just a description of an emotion. And it doesn't just apply to people that you like. Love is a choice you make to put other people ahead of your own comfort and well-being. It is a choice to ask God for what's good and right and best in their lives, NO MATTER THE COST TO YOU. Love is an absolute act of selflessness, that should be and can only truly be derived from God's love for us.
So. Love it is.
God, I clearly feel Your heavy hand of authority resting on me right now. Help me to love them. Loving H is easier than the other. But You aren't giving me the option to choose one or the other. The ease, comfort or consequence needs to not be part of the motivation of my heart to obey. I WANT to obey. Please remove the illegitimate feelings. Please remove the feelings in my heart that will breed pride and arrogance. God please replace pain with compassion and anger with grace. Give us all beauty for ashes. Let all of us look to the best interests of each other. Let all of us give our very bests in this. Let all of us see You work and move in this to bring about Your plan for each life. Give me the grace to forgive and them the grace to recieve. In the obedience to forgive, please also give me the release of acceptance. God I need You and I need this. Thank you for answering my prayers. Thank you for showing me Your heart and for allowing me to be part of the work You are doing in my family. Thank you that the landscape of our family is unique, beautiful, and profitable for the furtherance of Your Kindgom and Your agenda. God please help me to get there. Unlock the door in my heart that is bursting at the seams to allow light into this darkness. There is a tree in my spirit ready to blossom and sing.Spring is here, but with no light, there will be no life. Lord provide the light. Life over death God. Eternal over temporal. Freedom over rights.
I just need you to help me, Lord...
In Jesus' Name. Amen.
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