Love

1Cor. 13:1 If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing. 3 If I dole out all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing. [WEB]

As is common with the Word of God, this passage of scripture is most often taken out of it's context for application. However there is a rule of hermeneutics that, when reading scripture, I live by. “No scripture can ever be fully understood without the light of all scripture shinning on it.” Couple this with “never take a scripture nor a passage of scripture out of it's context” and you are thoroughly set to be confused. These rules are a must but, and that is a large but, without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and prayer, wrapped around your study, it is, entirely, possible that the scripture studied will, as it does to the Lost Man, remain a mystery to you without useful meaning.

Most of the sermons I have heard on the thirteenth chapter are messages on love. And as anyone can see, that is not far out of the ball-park and, likely, was inspired by the Holy Spirit but this is a sandwiched passage of scripture. In this world today everything must be lightning fast and in trying to live that way, people have lost the art of reading. When we look at chapter 12, verse 1, Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant, [ASV], we see the introduction to the subject of chapters twelve through fourteen. Paul is speaking on the Spiritual Gifts that enable men to do some of the works of God.

Christians are saved by God's grace alone and from that being preached from the pulpit, many get the wrong idea. On the web I preface my signature with Bond Servant and I feel that I am even though I am also a child of God. When Jesus gave up the ghost, the purchase of your and my souls was the transaction that occurred. It was as though I were on the Slave Blocks of the seventeen and the eighteen hundreds and Satan and Jesus were bidding but Jesus, the Christ, went all in... literally!

So it is that being purchased we are now empowered to do our Master's bidding, His appointed works.

Now, but greed! Greed is the one common denominator for all humanity... sad but true. I believe it is safe to say that ninety-nine point five percent of all Christians have knowledge of the crowns God will award those that have worked according to His will. Some remember but some forget that we will also have the privilege of willingly giving them up by casting them to the feet of the Son of God, Jesus. I believe they forget because of greed. Crowns are valuable, here on the Earth but in Heaven, even, the streets are paved with Gold.

We must, when saved, converted or whatever you wish to call it, take on God's love! When Jesus, God in the flesh of a man, stood and absorbed those beatings, the thirty-nine lashes and the death on the cross He did so because it was the will of the Father and because He loved the Crown Jewel of His creation, mankind. If we do, what we believe to be, the works of God's will to earn a crown, we lose! If we do our works for the glory of God for the benefit of the other people, at our expense, perhaps we will earn one of those crowns but it should not matter.

Two points, Jesus did not enjoy having His beard jerked out by the roots and that is the least of His pain and He did do this thing because He loves us. The long and the short of the matter is, Jesus is the model or the pattern for our lives and we are to imitate Him because we love Him and in doing so, we love the strangest people.

May God bless this message to your hearts, Amen!