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After Peter’s confession that Christ was the Son of the living God, Jesus said flesh and blood had not
revealed it to him, but His Father in Heaven. Inspired from above is also the “love song” of the Apostle
Paul (I Cor. 13:1-13). All remarkable achievements are useless when divine love is missing. The love
there is not just a characteristic among others but a pointer to God Himself, without love = without God.
Yes, this love song proves that the Holy Spirit worked in a man, who was aware of his own lack of power,
and who submitted all his virtues, knowledge, gifts, and capabilities to God. Through such a humble
attitude, we get an insight of how to grow in God. Let us notice the words Apostle Paul uses to transfer
from chapter 12 to chapter 13. With the love song, he introduces a new precept “and I will show you
another, better way. ” In chapter 12 he shows the many tasks for members of the body of Christ. But what
use are all these without love? Humble hearts receive advice and fulfilment. Titles, office positions,
religious activities are inadequate, but will assist to penetrate in believing response, to love. If such
response is missing, everything else will fail.
A missionary wrote about his own experience: “who wants to be a missionary according to the example of
the master Christ, is not able to bring the heathens anything greater than the shining love of God, in his
own person. Speech of love is universal. A missionary needs many years to learn the language of his area.
But the language of love is understood by all, right from the beginning. It is not words, but the personality
that makes a man. His message is himself.
In central Africa, I met natives who could remember the only white man they ever met. That was David
Livingstone. As soon as one spoke about the Doctor, the faces lit up. It had been a long time ago, but in
Livingstone, these people had recognized the presence of love without the help of a single word.
Let it be hoped that through our service, that wonderful power of love, penetrates into our working
environment. We cannot imagine our mission to be any bigger, but should not be satisfied with anything
less.
The statement of the missionary includes everything that is said and done in God’s Kingdom. The “love
song” mentions a few: speaking in tongues, prophesy, belief in wonders, knowledge of secrets, doling out
all one has, give my body to be sacrificed. Ah, what would all these be without love? Just a sounding gong
and a clanging cymbal.
We have all experienced the emptiness of rhetoric without passion. When love is missing, other motives
play a role. E.G. ambition, self-satisfaction etc. Above all, the way divine love acts, is being told in verses
4 -7. Naturally we must not only test according to this standard which is round about us, but also which is
inside us. And we have also experienced how ashamed we were, when that divine love came to meet us.
In a like manner, we can learn from Apostle Paul where he wrote in the I form: I may speak in tongues of
men or angels, but am I without love, then I am nothing. Also in the breakdown of his theme he persists
with the I pattern, ceases to act as a child, and humbly he admits how he first learnt bit by bit, but finally
will be whole in knowledge (of the Lord)
“Why is Love greater than faith and hope?” we may ask. We can also ask what good is faith without
hope? But it is love that binds our soul to God, for God is love.
Faith and hope are the means to reach the goal. The goal is more important than the means. ” …and have
all the faith to move mountains and do not have love I am nothing…” I pray for the power of love, that
reveals itself in Jesus.