A L M A C I A S

THE MOST EXCELLENT WAY

Love is one of the most interesting subjects of the secular world and of the religious world. Even though this subject is very interesting and important, there are many who have very little knowledge of what this word really means. There are so many who have given the word "love" a meaning foreign to what God says love is. In the first letter to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul wrote, by inspiration, of the true meaning of love and how important this love should be to every one who considers himself a Christian. We read in I Corinthians 13:1-3, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 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, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."

As we analyze this passage of scripture, we can easily see that the apostle Paul compares something that the Corinthians considered very important to them in the first century ­ their spiritual gifts ­ to something that was lacking in their lives. Paul says of himself that if he were able to speak every language in existence, and yet had not love, he would be like the noise of sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. He would become like a worthless noise, a noise of no value. Everything that Paul was and everything that Paul might have accomplished in this world and in this life would be worthless.

Paul also makes reference to one who had the gift of prophecy and yet did not have love. The gift of prophecy was a gift by which one would receive revelation from God and would preach it or teach it by inspiration to others. This was a very important gift to have in the first century, being that very few of the books of the New Testament had been completed. And yet, if a person had this very important gift and did not have love, he would be nothing. Paul continued making reference to other things that one might do that were sacrificial on the part of the doer, which would avail him nothing if he had no love.

This kind of love is described as the agape love of the New Testament. When one possesses this kind of love, he will always be striving to do that which is good and beneficial to others. This is the kind of love that would help one to be longsuffering, patient, and kind, without envy, not self-centered, and without pride. Do we have this kind of love in our lives?