This post is part of a multi-part series that is examining 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 to discover the nature of true love.
Go to Part 1, 2
How can we hope to love with the same sort of life-encompassing selflessness that is described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7? To ask how a sinful person like you or me can show forth the love of Jesus in every area of our lives is like…
• A caterpillar asking what he needs to do to fly
• A tadpole asking what he needs to do to jump
• A seed asking what it needs to do to smell like a rose!
• For a caterpillar to fly, he must be transformed into a butterfly
• For a tadpole to jump, he must be changed into a frog
• For a seed to smell like a rose, it must fall to the ground and die and then rise up, transformed into the beauty of a sweet-smelling rose
For you and me to have love like we see in this passage…
• We must be changed
• We must be transformed
• We must be born again
• We must be made new creatures by the grace of God through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ who died on the Cross and then rose from the grave, defeating sin and death, and making it possible for us to know our Creator!
When Christ changes our lives, he gives us the gift of love like that which is described in 1 Corinthians 13! Is your life characterized by this gift of love? Obviously, all Christians still struggle with sin, but does it bother you when one of your actions, words, or thought is not characterized by love? A true Christian’s life will show the fruit of true love!
You can be a faithful churchgoer; you can do great things to help those in need; and you can speak spiritual words of wisdom which seem to come from the mouth of God himself…You can do all these things….and more…without love!
All of us who would claim to be Christians must examine our lives to see if they are characterized by love! If not, we need to hear the warning of this passage! “If we do not have love, it profits us nothing.” Nothing! Nothing in this life or in the life to come!
My father-in-law is a big NASCAR fan, and I enjoy watching the races from time to time. Several years ago, I was in a NASCAR store in the USA. Inside the store, they had a real race car! I think it was from a famous driver at the time. I remember looking at it in amazement! … There was only one thing missing…the engine!
The car looked great on the outside, but it was lacking the one thing on the inside that makes it do what it is intended to do! Without that engine, what was sitting in the store was worthless racecar! It was only good for a store display!
A Christian is made to bring glory and praise to God through the love that is displayed in our lives. We have to ask ourselves…Do our lives lack love? If they do, we are like cars without engines. We cannot fulfill our purpose in life of bringing honor and glory to God! No matter how ‘good’ all the ‘spiritual’ things we do make us look on the outside, without love, we can are of no use to God.
I pray that we will examine our hearts, searching to see if our lives are characterized by love.
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