Quote:
I Corinthians 13
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2..If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3..If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
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Studying for Sunday this week a sermon series called "Love & Hate" I pondered
I Corinthians 13. It struck me that Paul is saying that one can have the gifts of the Spirit at work in their lives, even have miracles performed through them but be devoid of love. That's an incredible thought! Kind of scary too. Because how many of us would think everything is A-Okay with God if the Spirit was speaking through us, performing miracles through us, etc?
He talks about great generosity and sacrifices for the cause---giving your body to be burned for the sake of the cause---yet even great sacrifices can be made without love. It's amazing to think that anyone would go to such great lengths seemingly for God, but in the end the motive was something else.
What could those motives be?
Matthew 6 comes to mind---to be seen of men, verily they have their reward. John in his gospel talks about the Pharisees loving the praise of men more than the praise of God.
How do we protect our hearts from embracing selfish motives in doing what we do for Jesus? It has to be what Jesus says in
Matthew 6---the private, secret life of giving, prayer, fasting. The humility that one encounters when face to face with the God of the universe in unavoidable. When it's just you and the Lord, when no one else knows what is being said or how much time is given or how much money is spent---the motive remains purely for the pleasure of the One we serve.
There will be times when public displays of God's miraculous, supernatural power are manifested. But remember that those displays can occur without love---they can occur through a vessel whose motives are narcissistic. Don't be fooled into judging the rightness or wrongness of something based on the outcome or appearance. God used pagans kings and nations to fulfill His purposes. Simon in
Acts 8 was born again yet Peter said his heart was not right with God. Peter declared Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah. Jesus said he was given a great revelation from God in
Matthew 16. Yet within a few verses he was trying to talk Jesus out of the cross and the Lord rebuked him as Satan!
The Antichrist will come to power and persuasion though lying signs and wonders. The magicians of Egypt performed miracles. Jesus said that there will be those who prophesied in His Name, cast out devils in His Name and performed mighty works in His Name and He will tell them to "Depart from me worker of inquity, I never knew you" (
Matthew 7).
The fruit of the Spirit = begins with love. This is THE evidence that one is filled with the Spirit. Joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, humility, self control follow.
Paul didn't deny the gifts. He placed them in their proper context and defined their purpose.
We should devote more time to loving Jesus, our neighbors, one another, our enemies than to any other virtue in the Christian experience. Signs will follow those that believe, you won't have to seek them, and your heart and motives will remain pure.
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