If I had the greatest gift of faith that could move mountains, but have never learned to love, then I am nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:6 (TPT)

The Greatest – Love Series – Part 1

Go to PART 1  |  PART 2  |  PART 3  |  PART 4  |  PART 5  |  PART 6  |  PART 7

Some friends of ours got married recently. During the ceremony, the Pastor read from 1 Corinthians 13 – the famous love passages. We were in such a beautiful setting, everyone was dressed up, the music was romantic, two wonderful people were eagerly pledging their lives to each other; the notion of love and loving was not hard to agree or comply with. Love actually was in the air.

Then the wedding finished, we went home; Saturday turned into Sunday. And with it arrived news and stories and fabrications and repressions and ideas and suggestions: normal life, in the real world, with no romantic background music or makeup to dress it up. Yet, the words from the ceremony were still rolling around in my head: love is… love is… love is…

“If I were to speak with eloquence in earth’s many languages, and in the heavenly tongues of angels, yet I didn’t express myself with love, my words would be reduced to the hollow sound of nothing more than a clanging cymbal. And if I were to have the gift of prophecy with a profound understanding of God’s hidden secrets, and if I possessed unending supernatural knowledge, and if I had the greatest gift of faith that could move mountains, but have never learned to love, then I am nothing. And if I were to be so generous as to give away everything I owned to feed the poor, and to offer my body to be burned as a martyr, without the pure motive of love, I would gain nothing of value.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (TPT)

Love seems to be the thing, right?

But unlike the atmosphere at our friend's wedding, our real flesh and blood, day and night lives – on every scale from personal to global – don’t often flow with love. It’s much more complex. How do we “love” in a world that seems overrun by violence, prejudice, hate crimes (and speech), ignorance, terror, disease, poverty and more? We’re so busy trying to protect ourselves from each other, we hardly know how to reach out towards one another.

It seems like we’re fumbling around in the dark, looking for a light switch.

But that light switch is in each of us. And it's not so much a switch, as it is a flame.

A light can get turned on and off in an instant. The flame of love and faith starts as a tiny ember, slowly, then ferociously grows into a raging inferno, and then simmers down into mature, glowing coals.

Love.

Love is all you need. Love can change the world. Love is the greatest force on earth.

But how do we wield it? How do we march it? Pass it from person to person, pour it into mercy AND justice, strength AND vulnerability, progress AND sacredness?

I think that’s much of what Jesus tried to show us. After all, he had all the power in the universe and then some (“even if I had the greatest gift of faith that could move mountains…”) at his fingertips and yet, instead of moving mountains… (“…but have never learned to love, then I am nothing.”)

Go to Part 2 – Love is Large »

[PLEASE NOTE: Although we aren’t pastors, theologians or councilors, these daily blogs are our way of sharing our thoughts, prayers, and inspirations about God, faith, and life. We’re exploring and reading, engaging in community and listening to stories. We do not want you to take what we write verbatim. RATHER, we hope you join the conversation (whether with us or your own community), and are encouraged to seek and keep on seeking God in your life and the world around you. Awake, aware, alive. Email us at talktous@pktfuel.com and/or head to our website pktfuel.com – Lizzy.]

Over to you. Leave us your comments below.

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