If I Have Not Love

Good Day,

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NIV)
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Because Valentine's Day is upon us in a couple of days, I've been receiving many verses with love as a theme. This certainly is a good thing. But I hope that none of us needs to wait for some special day of the year to tell a loved one, to tell all of those whom we love, that we DO in fact love them. In a way it saddens me that we seem to require some special day in order to display and show our love for one another. Well, that's just a personal observation.

Paul speaks of love to the Corinthians in these verses in such a way that it is obvious we are to love all the time and we are to do all possible to love in the way that God loves us. Paul tells us in so many words that love is more important than anything else we can do. I guess that's all we need to know about this and it's what God wants us to understand.

Love one another and love all of mankind. Easy? No, not at all. Possible? Yes, with a great deal of effort.

Will we love like this? Can we love like this? I don't know if we will, but I do know that we can.

Start this very day by showing love to someone who perhaps isn't easy to love. If we start with the more difficult, then it becomes easier.

Love is what God wants of us. He wants it toward Him, of course. But He also wants it from all of us toward all of us.

As we see the Valentine hearts and flowers and candy, let it be a reminder to us of these verses we read today and of the fact that we are to love all the time and we are to love every one.

Love, peace, and blessings,

David