Wednesday, September 17, 2008

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Turning our Anything into Something

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging symbol.  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 have not love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

What a waste of time and energy it would be to be a supremely gifted preacher — to speak in the tongues of men or have the ability to prophesy the coming things of God or to be able to understand the deep things of God — and have it all be annoying noise.  Maybe someone might even have the gift of tongues or receive a message in another man's language that they have not learned.  If that were to happen and it simply be words that fall to the ground, wouldn't that be a waste of breath?  We encourage you to a greater walk of faith.  What if you were to come to a place where you literally could move any mountain with your faith but found that you were wasting your time doing so?  All that amazing faith, all for nothing.  Giving to the poor is a great thing.  Giving your life up as a martyr for the cause of the gospel may seem like the greatest thing that we could ever do.  It is possible, however, for anything that we do to end up being nothing.  It is possible for our all to equal zero.  How sad that would be.

The difference between nothing and really something is love.  The difference is genuine care and concern for God and his people, all of them, whether they are believers or not.  Jesus lived a life that was moved with compassion (see the September 2/08 Challenge).  Love was his driving force.  And when asked what the greatest commandment was,

"Jesus replied:  'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind' (Deuteronomy 6:5).  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it:  'Love your neighbor as yourself' (Leviticus 19:18)" (Matthew 22:37-39).

Love is "the most excellent way" (1 Corinthians 12:31).  We are to "be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Ephesians 5:1-2).

If I speak in the tongues of men and angels and do it out of love for God and the men and women he created, I am a wonderful symphony and a beautiful song.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge and love God and other people, I am really something.  If I have a faith that moves mountains and move them for God and other people because of genuine love, that faith counts for something that reaches into eternity.  I can give money to the poor, and if I love them, I will receive the thirty or sixty or a hundredfold blessing.  I may even give my life for the gospel and when I do it out of love, it becomes everything.  Jim Elliot, who was killed by South American Indians said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."  That is only true when the gift is motivated by love.

We may not do any of these things, but anything that we do has the the possibility of being something or being nothing.  What changes everything is love.  Not warm, mushy feelings.  But genuine love.  Care and concern.  The best interest of the other.  What does God want and what does the other person really need.  And a great place to start is right where you are.  Your spouse. Your children.  Your family.  Practice on them.  Then your neighbors and the people you work with.  Don't tell them what you are doing, just see if they notice something different.  Maybe you will be the first to notice how different you become.

"We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19).  Embrace his love for you and let him love you.  And then love him back with everything in you.  And, as you walk in his love, you will find that you end up loving all the others the way that he does.  And as you love him and other people, your anything ceases to be nothing and becomes more than you could ever have imagined!

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