Today’s reading is 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3

The next three days we are going to look, section by section, at 1 Corinthians 13.  This is the chapter of love.  A little background before we get to it.  Paul has spent time in the previous chapter talking about spiritual gifts. What is the greatest?  What gift should we be trying to attain? What should we be about?  This conflict is one of the many tearing the church at Corinth apart.

So Paul frames it this way. He talks about all the gifts that a person can have. And then he says, now will show you a more excellent way.  Love.  I love the way he says it here.  He names noble things – speaking in tongues, wisdom, prophecy, having great faith dying for your faith, and giving to the poor.  He says if I have these things or do these things, but don’t have love, I have am just noise and have gained nothing.

These gifts without love are nothing.  These actions without love are nothing.  None of these things measure up to love.  It is love that we should seek after.  It is love that we should pattern our lives after.  It is love that should be the goal of our lives.   If I do great things for God but don’t love as He has called me to do, then I haven’t truly done great things.

Because the greatest thing that He calls me and you to do is love.

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