Mensa Otabil - Love Gives Meaning to Our Gifts
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Welcome to a brand new week! This week we are going to talk about love. Of course, it’s a season for it, but we have to look at it from the Bible’s point of view and what God says about us walking in love. We’ll be looking at First Corinthians chapter 13 and will run through several verses in that passage. Incidentally, First Corinthians chapter 13 was one of the earliest Bible passages I had to memorize, and I had to do it in primary school for a school play. So, it’s a passage that I have some kind of connection to.
All right, so First Corinthians chapter 13, verse number one: «Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.» First Corinthians chapter 13 is a hymn of love; the whole chapter is dedicated to love and its impact on the Christian. It stands between First Corinthians chapter 12, where Paul talks about spiritual gifts, and First Corinthians chapter 14, where Paul discusses speaking in tongues. This is rightly appropriate. In the first verse, he talks about spiritual gifts and speaking in tongues, connecting the two passages together.
The Corinthian Christians, like us in Africa, were very fascinated by spectacular spiritual activities, like speaking in tongues and prophecy. These things were very important to them, and they were fascinated by them. I see the same fascination in our world today, and so this message is appropriate. Paul speaks to these Christians who consider spiritual gifts more important than anything else, and he talks about love. He says two important things here: first, that love makes spiritual gifts meaningful. He says if you speak in tongues and do not have love, you are like a clanging cymbal. A clanging cymbal is just an instrument making noise but not sending any clear message; it is not conveying any particular message.
We can choose to be clanging cymbals and sounding brass; we can just choose to make noise, or we can choose to give sound, meaning, and make our gifts and our spiritual lives meaningful. What makes our lives meaningful is when our spiritual gifts are undergirded with true Christian love. Paul presents love as a partner of spiritual gifts, stating that without it, the spiritual gift is nothing. Sometimes we think that the spiritual gift by itself is powerful, but here Paul says that what really makes it powerful is love.
We will learn later about what love is, and Paul is also telling us that our love is greater than any spiritual gift. He does not actually say that spiritual gifts are not important, but he shows us what he calls a more excellent way-a better way, something that we should really pursue and seek after. He says if you’re going to seek all the gifts, it’s fine, but the thing you should really seek after, the thing your heart should truly desire, is the love of God. That is something very sobering for us to consider: that God’s love is superior to any gift we have, whether it’s a spiritual gift, a natural gift, a talent, or an ability. No matter how excellent we are, if we don’t exhibit God’s love, all of those have no meaning and benefit.
As we seek to do great things spiritually and in our natural life-in our professions and careers-the Christian’s ultimate pursuit should be to walk in the love of God. And that’s how we start our week today. Let’s pray. Say with me: Heavenly Father, thank you for every spiritual gift. Help me to use my gifts to bless your people. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.