Love is Indispensable. 1 Corinthians 13

Hello Friends, ?

The last couple of weeks, I’ve addressed grief because so many are experiencing it in these challenging times. Today I want to share some thoughts on the one thing that matters in all that’s happening and what our part is in the grand scheme of this thing called “LOVE.” We are given love from our God. He literally IS the force that is love. And since He is in us, that means love. also, literally lives in us.
Our God gives us life exactly when we are supposed to have it. The days he fashioned for us to live in at a very specific time are for a very specific purpose. And while we are here, we are to demonstrate His love to those in the world when and where they need it. And, in doing so, we let others see the reflection of Him. He wants everyone to know and understand what love is… what He is through us and our behaviour. We are designed to commune with Him and with one another and, in addition, we are all given gifts that enable us to share this amazing knowledge with all who will hear it.

Our Creator says, through the great Apostle Paul, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts, and I will show you the most excellent way.”  1 Corinthians 12:27-31
We know that some have one or two of the gifts. Some have all. That really isn’t important. What is important is that we bring forward whatever our gifts are in His service which serves the whole of humanity. The humanity that He wants to bloom into all that we can be. And what is most important of all is that we do what we do, first and foremost, from a very intentional space of love. I cannot define things any better than Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 when he explained that of everything we’ve been given, what endures, what trumps every gift that makes us unique and special is that force that binds and guides us… love.
“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. 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.  But where there are prophecies, they cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled, where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, and now these three remain: faith, hope and Love. But the greatest of these is Love.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Love never fails. It can take turns we don’t understand but let us realize that because love is God, love cannot ever fail. We can count on that. So let us look to Him, and walk in Him, and bring what and who He is to this world. He is all that is Indispensable.?
Love,
Poppa
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