Why Love?

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1 Corinthians 13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

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.

If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude.

Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.

So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (RSV)

Paul wrote that without love, I am simply an annoying noise-maker. If I "do" all manner of things for God, but have no love, I have gained nothing.

Paul made a point of saying that prophetic insight, staggeringly brilliant intellect and unshakable faith are worthless unless love is present.

As an aside, I wanted to compare that statement with Jesus' words in Matthew 7:21-23

"Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.'

Doesn't it seem overly harsh for Jesus to say "I don't care that you sacrificed everything for me--I don't know who you are, you will have to leave." ? Perhaps. But He also says that only those who do the will of His Father will enter the kingdom.

Paul goes on to give a description of what love is...and what it is not. Then he again reiterates that the greatest of all gifts is love.

Perhaps the rejected people in Jesus' illustration are those who lack love. Could it be that the will of God is that we LOVE?

Why is love so important? And why would Jesus say He doesn't know those who don't have love?

I think the answers to both questions can be found in John's statement that He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. (1 John 4:8)

Catch that? God is love. I don't mean to seem as though I'm yelling, but it's really important to recognize this, I think.

God's very being defines the essence of what love is.

I think it is very interesting to go back and re-read 1 Corinthians 13 by substituting "God" for "love".

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. 1 John 4:9-10

Jesus Christ is the embodiment of God's love. He loved that which was incapable of returning His love so that in Him we may have life. "Life" and "love" are intertwined in Christ's person in such a way that they cannot be separated.

No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. In this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because he first loved us. If any one says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also. 1 John 4:12-21

There are numerous religions and even socially concerned atheists that believe it is important to be nice and try to get along with others. But that isn't love as described by Paul and John. As Jesus said, there will be many who come to Him saying "Look at all that we did for You!" But He won't recognize them because they had no relationship with Him as they did those things.

Love is not primarily what we do or feel, although action and emotion are involved.

As Christians, Love defines who we ARE. And in this, we identify with the love that God IS. The actions and (sometimes) feelings follow as verification of this reality. We are being molded into Christ's image and we "do" because of who we are in Him.

Put simply: No Love, no Life. Or, more precisely....No God, no Life. Therefore, without love, I am nothing.