“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.
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Christ-like love gives meaning to action.
Has anyone ever done something for you that was supposed to be good but felt empty?
I had a boss who was coercive and blamed staff for his mistakes but would unexpectedly plan a “work fun day” when everyone was mad at him. It was bull crap. He didn’t want to deal with the real problem but wanted to feel better about himself. It was noisy. It was empty.
Sometimes people volunteer at a hot meals program and return talking about how good it made them feel to “give back.” They get to feel like better people, but they never interacted with anyone there. They didn't sit down to eat with anyone there. They didn’t learn anyone’s name. They were motivated by the desire to feel like a better person, not by love. It is noisy. It iss empty.
Action without love is like a crashing cymbal clanging on without a band. It is worthless noise.
It brings attention to the doer, but it's value is at best temporal and never eternal.
Without love, ministry is selfish.
When ministry is motivated by something other than love, even good deeds reek of selfishness.
I’ve seen ministry manipulate people to get their way and then pout like a toddler or hold a grudge when their idea didn't get used. I've seen spiritual mentors hold a grudge when someone didn't follow their advice. How can selfishness be so prominent in actions that are supposed to be fundamentally others-centered.
In the absence of love, pride becomes the motive for good deeds. Instead of doing good out of love for God or love for people, it is done out of a desire to feel like a better person or to perceive oneself as having value in his or her ability to do something.
Prideful motivation can't hide. It manifests in all the things that love is not.
Notice that as the Apostle Paul tells us what love is, he also tells us what it isn't.
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
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When good works are motivated by pride, the root of selfishness finds its way to the surface. The pride motivated doer will lack patience and kindness. He/she will insist on his/her own way. The unity Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 12 will be eaten away by irritable and resentful behavior. Deceit will creep in. The pride-motivated doer will not bear with the burdens of others. They will not believe the best or hope the best. They won't endure.
On the other hand, when love is the motivator, the smallest act of kindness has eternal significance.
When I was at camp in 7th grade, a counselor named Steve Classble told me that he would pray for me that year. I never forgot him. Once, in a moment of profound grief, my friend Ryan Aldefer gave me a bear hug as I wept over a loss. I cannot overstate the value of his support. Though the action was small, his love was great. My wife once sent me a note on a hard day, telling me that I was a good man. I still live off of that compliment.
More important than than the action is the love that motivates it.
Gifts are temporary; love is eternal.
“As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.””
Paul reminds us that the spiritual gifts he listed in 1 Corinthians 12 are temporary. They exist as a means to advance Christ Kingdom in love. Like warships in an eternal peace, their necessity will pass when Jesus' eternal Kingdom is fully established.
There is no place for impatient pastors or resentful disciple-makers. In the Kingdom of God there are no free passes for gifted leaders who lack love.
Never treat the gift as something greater than love.
Evaluate Your Love
We operate on the default assumption that we are loving. Pride's poisoning effects are self-blinding. The destruction of selfish motivation is only possible through the Holy Spirit's convicting work. Take a moment to review Paul's description of love, but place your name in place of "love." If the Holy Spirit reveals you are lacking, abandon your pride and let God fill your heart with the love that comes from Him.
“_____ is patient and kind; _____ does not envy or boast; _____ is not arrogant or rude. _____ does not insist on his/her own way; _____ is not irritable or resentful; _____ does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. _____ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. _____’s love never ends.”
Let us seek to love like Christ, because love will remain when all else has passed.
Image Credit: mwalshhome
