«Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal» (l Corinthians 13:1).
1 CORINTHIANS 13 is one of the most extraordinary and meaningful chapters in the Bible, and should be read as a continuation of the argument Paul presented in the previous chapter. Spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues, prophesying, understanding great mysteries, having faith that will move mountains, giving everything in favor of the poor, and dying as a martyr, are inferior to the gift which is quintessentially superior: the gift of love.
A person can prophesy in an impressive manner, be a captivating teacher, cure the most complex illnesses, perform the most spectacular miracles, but if they do these things without love, these actions lose their value.
«If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, ‘Jump,’ and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love» (l Cor. 13:1—3, The Message).
What the apostle Paul clearly says is that love which is born in God’s heart should be the only motivation for any use the spiritual gifts. Why is that? Because love that is born in the heart of God is the one that gives purpose, validation, and the correct guidance to everything the gifts can lead us to accomplish.
Everything we do, no matter how well-intentioned it may be, remains incomplete, because someday everything will be plainly revealed in light of the love which was consolidated on Calvary, and still remains as a mystery, because our mind is not capable of understanding the love of the One who is love incarnated: Jesus Christ.
Ellen G. White assures us that «when love fills the heart, it will flow out to others, not because of favors received from them, but because love is the principle of action. Love modifies the character, governs the impulses, subdues enmity, and ennobles the affections. This love is as broad as the universe, and is in harmony with that of the angel workers. Cherished in the heart, it sweetens the entire life and sheds its blessing upon all around.
(Thoughts from the Mount of Blessings, p. 38).
