Without It - Forget It!

WITHOUT IT – FORGET IT.

“It’s amazing. I heard him myself. It wasn’t trickery. He really did it. He can speak 6,912 different languages. Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish and English are the four biggies – but I asked him about some of the most obscure languages on the planet and he did it! He is a super polyglot. He blew me away!”

“But at any point did you sense he radiated love?”

“No, I can’t say I did. It was an incredible show but it never occurred to me that love was in the equation at all.”

“Well, then forget it. Spiritually, it was just a racket – a big irritating noise.”

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“If you were wowed by that, what would you have thought had you been with me? She stood at the base of the towering Kangchenjunga in the Himalayas and said: ‘Move north 30 metres.’ And the earth trembled and Kangchenjunga literally moved the distance. You can’t deny it – she has power.”

“But at any point did you detect love was the motivating factor?”

“Love? What’s love got to do with it? It was sheer power!”

“Doesn’t matter. No love? Forget it. Without love it’s just an unimpressive show. Nothingness.”

__________________

“I can top your stories with a heart-wrenching account of personal sacrifice. I knew the man myself. He was just martyred last week. At one time he was filthy rich but over the last five years he gave away everything he owned to all the charities in town. But when he voluntarily surrendered last week to the anti-Christian community council to be publicly burned to death – well, that topped it all.”

“At any point did he mention love for Christ or love period?”

“Love? No, I never sensed it was out of love. His close associate felt he did it out of duty or a need to be liked.”

“Too bad. He may register with Guinness, but that’s it. Without love, it’s a zero in Heaven’s books.”

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Love is the essential ingredient in everything we do as believers. Other impressive factors may be in the mix but if love is missing, it doesn’t count.

In Corinth, Christians were priding themselves in their amazing abilities that God had equipped them with. Paul plainly told them that if ‘love’ was not the key ingredient in using their gifts then it was all for nothing. An empty show.

Only service that flows out of a heart throbbing with love for Christ and in turn love for others counts for eternity.

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels,
but have not love,
I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers,
and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains,
but have not love,
I am nothing.
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,
but have not love
I gain nothing.”

1Corinthians 13:1-3 ESV

Is love on the decline in your life towards a person or towards the assembly or in some other way? Is your service becoming routine - more out of duty than out of love?

Whether I am a Bible-study contributor, Christian writer, translator, missionary, elder, preacher, Sunday School teacher, tract distributor, hymn starter, behind the scenes organizer, campus witnesser, etc. – if my service/ministry is not motivated and marked by love, I am nothing and my efforts are valueless.

“Lord, rekindle in my heart today the fires of love and devotion to Thee. Help me to appreciate much more the ‘love of Christ’ and may His love move me forward in serving the Best of Masters!”

Walk carefully and closely with the Lord today.

Warmly in Christ

Peter Ramsay