Living for Christ: through love

1 John 4:8, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

God is love. Everything about Him - His grace, mercy, compassion - reflect His amazing love. He showed us His perfect love throughout scripture. I mean He even sent His Only Son to die so that we could have a relationship with Him. He did that because of His love.

John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

How do we live for Christ? We can't do it without love. All of our actions reflect something... all of our words reflect something. Do they reflect love? I'm not talking about the love between a man and a woman who are "in love", I'm talking about God's love. He is love. So if our actions and words don't reflect love, then, they don't reflect love. 

Last week we talked about spiritual gifts. And those are important. But even more important is love. Right after Paul talks about spiritual gifts and unity in the Body of Christ he goes on to talk about love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3, "If I speak human or angelic languages but do not have love, I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing."

Love is the key. No matter how many spiritual gifts we have, no matter how much we give, no matter what gifts or talents we have... without love it's meaningless. 

I've read that scripture several times, I've always loved the chapter 1 Corinthians 13. But never before did I realize what I've realized now while writing this. 1 John 4:8 (verse shown at top of post) says that God is love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 is saying that without love all of it is meaningless... God is love so without love then it's without God and apart from God all those things are meaningless. 

So what is love? Paul goes on to write what love is.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7, "Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not conceited, does not act improperly, is not selfish, is not provoked, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

Love is kind, patient, it hopes, it believes, it never ends, it keeps no record of wrongs, it rejoices with the truth, it doesn't envy, isn't boastful or conceited, it isn't selfish... the list goes on. Love sounds simply amazing doesn't it? God is all of those things and more. 

Let's strive to live for Christ through loving others. Love is the key. If we live without love we live without God and without God our lives don't mean a thing.

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How can we put love into action? Any favorite Bible verses about love? Any thoughts on the subject?