1 Corinthians 13:1

I apologize for being gone from the blogosphere for so long! In the past 14 months God has allowed me to literally travel the continent sharing the Gospel and what God has done in my life. Unfortunately, that meant that for the past 7 months I woke in a new town every weekend. So obviously being able to share my thoughts and studies via blog was not a high priority. God changed all of that almost a month ago as I was called to be a Youth Pastor at a church in eastern North Carolina! I finally have time to sit, collect my thoughts and be able to share with you what God is teaching me. I hope I can have some dialogue with you in the coming weeks. Please feel free to post comments, prayer request and even talk about what God is doing in your life. I know that this is obviously a poor reflection of true community within the body of Christ, but I feel that is a great thing to encourage a brother and sister in Christ wherever possible. I am humbled that anyone would read my words and find them even remotely useful. So thank you for taking time from your day to read my thoughts

So into the good stuff.....

"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." ~ 1 Corinthians 13:1 (NASB)

I love 1 Corinthians 13 as a whole chapter. The interesting thing is so many of us equate this chapter (the "Love Chapter") with dealing with romantic love, marriage and its ideal components. Paul is using this chapter to hold the church accountable to what ideal love is inside the body of Christ.

Paul starts this discussion on love by pointing to the fact that spiritual gifts in the absence of love are meaningless. This is verse is directed to those of us who communicate to our brothers and sisters in Christ in any spoken means. The word tongues literally means any form of speech. is used a descriptive word used in the New Testament for a number or manners of speech from prophecy to foreign languages, but the core of Paul's message is our call to love. Paul shows that even those who are eloquent and wise in speech are making worthless unorganized noise in the absence of love. It is God's desire that we carefully craft our love for others than carefully crafting our speech.

Paul echoes this sentiment again in 1 Timothy 1:5-6, " But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion". The goal of Paul's ministry and the Gospel as a whole is to have people who have a heart filled with the Holy Spirit and not just a mouth filled with the right words. As I pursue my Father the right words will come out of my mouth. My heart is the very core of me. If I do not love those I speak with, I am only offering hollow words. Jesus proclaimed in John 13 that the love for my brothers in Christ will speak to my identity in Christ. Love for one another is shown in humble acts and a life lived in sacrifice. It is when I have understood what it is to truly love as a brother in Christ, then I have learned to truly communicate.

So let your love speak for you, not your mouth.