Articles
If Love Is Missing
Are you 'nothing'?
Strange choice of words I know. I wondered what the dictionary said the definition of 'nothing' was, because in my mind, the definition of 'nothing' would be "nothing". Actually, when I looked it up, I wasn't far off. Nothing: Pronoun - not anything, no single thing, Adjective - having no prospect of progress, no value, Adverb - not at all.
Paul, in 1 Cor 13 says, " 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. 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. 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."
We can be and/or do a lot of things, but Paul says without doing them in love, we are left with nothing. He then tells us what love is, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." Did you notice that none of these things are a feeling only? Love is valuable when put into action.
Paul ends this section of scripture this way, "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.". I can't imagine faith or hope without love, can you?
