Getting it Right

Getting it Right

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love [for others growing out of God’s love for me], then I have become only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal [just an annoying distraction]. 1 CORINTHIANS 13:1 AMP

It is easy to focus on the outward display of gifts, talents and abilities, and forget the basic foundations that give life to the gifts. It is easy to define a person by what s/he does, not who he knows, because as human beings, we are unfortunately moved by what we see or hear. It is easy to pay lip service to anything, because nobody can read the heart's motives and determine its sincerity. So, we go through life pretending, or simply keeping up appearances. That's not the life God wants for us.

One of the greatest concepts of life and God is love. Love is both invisible and tangible at the same time. For those who know, an outflow of affection termed as love first lives in the heart before it can flow out to other people. I cannot claim to truly love another unless and until that love has taken root in my own heart. Pray, what would I be giving out if I never had it in me in the first place?

I could have all the best gifts on offer; I could speak and lives be moved; I could prophesy and 'bless' people's lives with the Word of God, but God's first and only requirement is that I do all I do out of a heart of love. Why is love so important- could it be it is because love is what keeps your heart from unhealthy comparisons or rivalry. It is love that keeps my heart free from envy of other people's gifts and testimonies. Otherwise, I end up giving out so much yet getting so little satisfaction and joy in what I do.

If I do anything outside of love, I am referred to as a noisy gong; an annoying distraction. Waoh! Whilst men are applauding the display, God is questioning the motive and rejecting the offering. Maý I not get to the end of my race and discover that I had pursued the wrong priorities and wasted God's precious gifts. Love, defined by God, is the only guarantee against such an end. His time of favour is here.