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LOVE IS ESSENTIAL

THE DAILY FOUNTAIN DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE OF THE CHURCH OF NIGERIA (ANGLICAN COMMUNION)


DATE: SUNDAY, 18TH SEPTEMBER, 2022 


TOPIC: LOVE IS ESSENTIAL


TEXT: 1 CORINTHIANS 13:1-13


1. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

2. And though I have [the gift of] prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

3. And though I bestow all my goods to feed [the poor,] and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

4. Love suffers long [and] is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;

5.  does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;

6.  does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;

7.  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8.  Love never fails. But whether [there are] prophecies, they will fail; whether [there are] tongues, they will cease; whether [there is] knowledge, it will vanish away.

9.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part.

10.  But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

11.  When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

12.  For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

13.  And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these [is] love.


MESSAGE: 

The word charity means love in action. It is not simply an emotion; it is the heart reaching out to others. 'Charity' today makes us think of giving away old clothes or making gifts to charitable institutions. These activities can be Christian love in action, but Paul is demanding much more. The word he uses for love is agape, which is love that sacrifices for the good of others. Notice how he takes up some of the spiritual gifts of I Corinthians12:8-10 and shows their emptiness, aside from love. Tongues without love become mere noise; prophecy without love makes the prophet nothing. 

      

This applies to knowledge and faith. Paul is not disdaining these gifts; he simply says that they will achieve nothing unless there is love in the life of the Christian in the exercise of his or her gifts. Love is the measure of all things. The Corinthian Church used their spiritual gifts for competition and not of love. The church was divided! Preaching without love is just so much noise. Is the situation not same with our present-day church? Jesus must be asking the church of today just as He asked Peter, Do you love me? (John 21:17). We must wake up to love - the greatest of all virtues!


PRAYER: 

O Lord grant me the grace to live a life of love in Christ Jesus name. Amen.

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