1 Corinthians 13:1-8 – “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. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.  4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  8 Love never fails…” NASB

The most important thing in our Christian Life is LOVE!  Love for God and love toward our fellow man.  We may be the most eloquent of speakers, have the greatest insight, and manifest incredible gifts but without love, the Bible tells us we are nothing more than NOISE!  Some of the things Paul lists as having without having love seem almost impossible to me but I conclude that while he may not have been speaking literally but metaphorically, I will accept the idea that one might manifest these things and not have love.  In that case, that individual would be quite the show but nothing more than “rain on a tin barn.”  All foam and no beer, as a friend mine likes to say. 

I know some people who are incredibly generous and truly orators but in private I know them to be lacking greatly in the arena of Love both for God and man.  Paul tells us in verses four-eight something about LOVE!  It is patient, kind, not jealous, does not brag, is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly, is not self-centered, not provoked, does not harbor grudges, or rejoice in unrighteousness. 

Love seeks truth, bears burdens, believes in people and God, has hope, and endurance.  Then he tells us the most powerful thing of all – – LOVE NEVER FAILS!  I hear people talk about “falling in love” like love was a mud puddle.  Love is not something you “fall into” but something you make the choice and grow into.  I love my fellow man, not because I fell in love with them but because I love God, and loving God I make the choice to love my fellow man.

If you discover that you are deficient in any gift you once operated in or in an area of spirituality you believe you should have more proficiency in, check your Love Quotient!  How is your heart in that regard?  Turn to the LORD and ask Him to send forth the Love of God so that it is spread abroad in your heart and as it spreads “in” your heart it will “flow out of “ your heart into your life and touch others.

May God be with you as you go through this day!