1 Corinthians 13:2 English Standard Version (ESV) And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

Considering once again that this is the inspired word, let us find meaning in its inclusion.

Power, mysteries, knowledge and faith are all sought out by mankind. When the focus is to obtain any one of them or even all of them, we fail to focus on the one thing that makes them all have value, Christ.

Having been in a group of believers who made these their focal point I felt unloved when love was what I needed. All of us need God’s love. This is why 1 Corinthians 13 is so important. It demonstrates what love is by first telling us what love is not.

Focus on power, mysteries, knowledge and faith. What we will not see looking to them is the needs of the lost or our babes in Christ. What they seek and need is love not power, mysteries, knowledge or faith.

This is why Paul describes in the first 3 verses what love is not before stating the attributes of agape love, God’s perfect love.

³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,^{[that I may boast]} but have not love, I gain nothing.

Christ is the gift, Christ is the sacrifice and to place the focus on us voids the love inside us.

This is perhaps the greater message of these first three verses that we can and do often act upon these things even though the love of Christ abides in us. The focal point has to be Christ and not ourselves.

God is love and Christ is the manifestation of agape love to a lost and dying world.

We cannot imagine how to let Him love through us if we do not recognize love’s characteristics.

1 Corinthians 13:1 English Standard Version (ESV) If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 

I am sure that everyone recognized the conclusion of yesterday’s post. This is the first line of the love chapter entitled The Way of Love.

Why did Paul use the examples of a gong and a cymbal to associate the lack of love? First impulse is to admit it is the inspired word of God and that Paul was inspired to include these musical instruments at God’s direction. That means that God has a message for us in their use.

The gong and cymbal are musical instruments that are not solo instruments. They are used primarily as instruments of inclusion, with purpose and precision. Alone, they sound out of place.

A cymbal is often used to denote tempo but does not carry the melody. It may help us keep pace but does not inspire us to sing.

The gong is dramatic, loud and emphatic. In music it often is used dramatically by being struck with a stick covered with a soft material such as leather or rubber. Where it is struck by the musician controls how it sounds. By itself it cannot make music.

Both require a choir master to have any real value.

We can be a gong or a cymbal and still have value, if we are led by Christ.

The point of reference is in the use of our tongues. Of men or of angels is irrelevant if Christ is not our choir master.

Man can inspire us and say things worth repeating. Angels are messengers of God and we want to be messengers. If we repeat what we have heard without taking direction from Christ, we have not made music.