LIVING AS GOD PLANNED - LOVE (Part 1)

Love is one asset that cannot be underestimated. Love, as defined by me, is that driving force that binds a group of people together and shows that they are of a common opinion. How? I will show you from the Word of God.

Now there are some characteristics and features of love we must consider. For this reason we would have to critically take a look at 1 Corinthians 13. This is the passage from which we find love as being patient, kind, not jealous and etc. But what we fail to look at are the conditions for which love holds.

      As Christians, the bible is telling us from 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 that if;

• we can speak all the languages of the earth and of angels, with the gift of prophesy 
• we understand all the secret plans of God even to the extent of comprehending God Himself 
• we possess all knowledge, skill and wisdom 
• we have faith to move mountains into the sea 
• we give our possessions to charity or even give our bodies to be burned for the sake of others

…and do not have love, we are nothing more than noise makers. We would be nothing before the Creator and consequently gain nothing from Him regardless our good deeds. Wow! This exposition is one of a wonder as we all fall short at a point in time due to our flesh. Kindly take note that our flesh (i.e. carnal nature) which eventually fades away is responsible for our inability to live and walk in love. This is a wake-up call to all Christians. If God is to grade us on ‘scale of love’, most of us would score 0.0001% or even less. This clearly shows that love is not just a proclamation but an act. It is required of us to live, talk and walk in love genuinely.

First Corinthians 13:4-7 reveals the qualities of love unequivocally. But one attribute of love we have to take note of is the fact that love never gives up (i.e. never loses faith or is always hopeful or endures through every circumstance). This shows that it is love that keeps a parent hoping and trusting and having faith and enduring the brain tumor of his or her child because he or she knows that irrespective of their financial standing, every single problem pertaining to the brain of their child would be alright. So they continue to show love. This truly is love at show. This is a heavenly mystery indeed!

From 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 the bible reveals what it terms as partial things. Those things are referred to as such because they reveal part of the real revelation and shall pass away. Such things are referred to as such because they reveal part of the whole and real picture and will become useless when the time of perfection (coming of Jesus Christ) is reached. But one thing that will last forever is love. What a priceless culture we have to cultivate by the Spirit – a culture of love. This means that if we go all out searching and building ourselves and the time of perfection which has a high affinity for love comes we would be found wanting. This then stresses the need for love to remain paramount even in our search for partial things. We might be tempted to disregard some people and show less love to them because of what we would like to gain but one thing to note is this; of what use is it to chase the vanities of this world and miss the main mark – love, which would last forever after the coming of the Lord? Think about it!

From 1 Corinthians 13:7 we see that faith and hope are a pre-requisite for love and are en-grafted in love. However, faith and hope can stand alone, alongside love and be regarded as the three things that will last forever. From the other verses aforementioned, by love we get these things so even though they can stand alone, they are only complete in love and as such love is crowned as the greatest among the three.

Now, back to our definition of love; it would be revealed in our next article, the part 2 of this write-up, whose text for in-depth study would be taken from 1 John 4:7-21. This write-up is inspired by Yahweh and would definitely be continued and ended by His Grace alone. Be Blessed!

Written by Mawunyo Joana Dzegblor (M. J. Dzegblor) 

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By S. E. Entsua-Mensah. ©2014 Christ for Humanity Outreach 

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