Day 181: Way to grow! - 1 Corinthians 13 vs 1 – 7

1 If I speak human or angelic tongues - but do not have love - I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains - but do not have love - I am nothing. 3 And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast - but do not have love - I gain nothing.

4-7 Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:1-7 Christian Standard Bible.

The apostle Paul was dealing with a Church that was divided and being damaged by some who thought they were 'more filled with the Spirit' than others. It seems that many regarded 'speaking in tongues' as the main evidence of being filled with the Spirit. But the last chapter ended with Paul saying: “I will show you an even better way.” So what is this obvious 'better way' that Paul wanted them to put into practice? (vs 1-3)

I did say it was obvious! He reminds them that the most spectacular things anyone might do are just hollow and worthless ego trips if the person's life doesn’t show Christlike love. It's interesting that he speaks of 'moving mountains'. It was Jesus himself who said to his disciples “Truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)

So Paul wasn’t saying that great faith and amazing prophecies, or even tongues, were wrong - he is simply pointing out that they were just outward expressions of the Holy Spirit's work. The deeper work that the Spirit does is to enable believers to put the words of Christ into action when he said: “Love one another! Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (Luke 13:34-35) We read those words so easily – but they are amazing. We’re called to love others in the same way Christ loves us.

Verses 4-7 give us a glimpse of what such a love would look like. Once again, is there anything that strikes you as obvious from the description of love that Paul gives in those verses?

What struck me is that Christlike love is very different to the love broadcast from Hollywood and people with political agendas. It’s not about romance or getting one's way with others. It is not about making sin acceptable 'in the name of love'. It's a love that truly seeks the well being of others and is willing to put one's own needs and feelings second. We see this sort of love in the mother of a Down's Syndrome child – or in a husband who faithfully cares for his wife paralyzed from an accident. It's the love seen in missionary's who gave up the comfort and security of their own lands to live in primitive conditions among people who initially were hostile, in order to tell them of God's love for the world.

I could go over each aspect Paul mentions – but it’s far better for you to do that yourself. In homes with young children I've sometimes seen a measuring rod against a wall. Written at various intervals alongside it were the children's names showing how much they had grown. In vs 4-7 we have a heavenly measuring rod by which we can see how much we have grown since we called on Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. It's well worth the time to reflect on each of the 'notches' Paul gives in these verses, and to ask ourselves honestly whether we’ve grown in that aspect of love. Am I more patient than once I was? Am I less irritable? Is Christ's love helping me to press on in my marriage, or with some difficult people in the congregation? “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.“ (Galatians 5:25-26) That's the way to grow.