1 November | Youth
«But the greatest of these is love.» 1 Corinthians 13:13
The text of 1 Corinthians 13 is the standard measure for Christian love. It is the registered trademark, the disciple’s identity card. Paul says that only love gives meaning to what we do. Speaking other languages, serving in the missionary field, helping those in need, studying everything God says on a given subject, believing in people’s potential or even sacrificing oneself in favor of someone are commendable things, but insufficient for us to fulfill Jesus’s commandment. The biggest problem is thinking that it is enough to distribute a few crumbs of attention and good will to fulfill the commandment of love.
As Joêzer Mendonça said: “If I have more art than love, in vain I will have listened, in vain I will have sung, in vain I will have lived.” We know that the ideal of 1 Corinthians 13 is too high for us, but there is no middle ground. Take it or leave it.
God’s love is the love presented as agape; a Greek term used in the New Testament to refer to the highest form of love. It means love for the unworthy, for sinners, for those who do not deserve to be loved. The Bible teaches that whoever loves knows God. And this is better than power, wealth, intelligence, and spirituality.
If you want to know what level your heart is at, use the measure from 1 Corinthians 13:4 to 8.
If you are not scared by the challenge of this text, it is because you need a new heart. Every time I read or think about this text, I realize how far from ideal I still am, but that is why the gospel makes a difference. Grace does not allow us to fold our arms. It says that we should love everyone, anytime, anywhere, no mat-ter who, just like God did. Those who do not love like this defame the God of love they claim to represent.
We do not love because we are commanded to love. We love because we are loved. Most of us think that love is a duty, but it is not. I love because I was and am loved. If love does not flow spontaneously and constantly from you, it is because you have not yet been filled with the agape love of Jesus. As Ellen White says: “The strongest argument in favor of the gospel is a loving and lovable Christian” (The Ministry of Healing, p. 470).