1 Corinthians 13

Jeff Cutts

Who is the most "spiritual" person you know... what is it that makes them so spiritual?

Maybe they have the gift of tongues and speak loudly, all the time! One preacher I heard once said, "If you want to be spiritual, pray in the Spirit!!" Good advice I think, and the Bible does say "But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit...." (Jude 1:20) but there's also something more.

How about the gift of prophecy? Is the most spiritual person you know the prophet who calls us to "hear the word of the LORD!!" Challenging, knowing the very pulse of God it seems, and understanding all God's mysteries... God does appoint prophets and speaks through people with prophetic gifts, and we need to know God's heart and hear His living word. We should desire the gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:1)... but there's still something more.

Perhaps it's the man or woman of faith who is the most spiritual person you know - having faith to believe God will move mountains on their behalf, healing every sickness, providing every need... and after all "without faith it's impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6) Or maybe it's a giver, someone who tithes their income and gives over and above. The most hospitable and generous person you've ever met, one who gives everything to the poor and even gives up their life for others.

These are all wonderful, Godly, true and worthy things, but now I will show you the most excellent way...

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
(1 Corinthians 13:1-7)

All these "spiritual" things without love leave us as noisy, clanging cymbals which count for nothing!

Love makes it, seals it, and holds it all together in the way God had planned from the beginning - it's easy to see that when there is a breakdown or absence of love that is where harm is done. Love also costs us our 'self' because God's love is selfless - It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs - these are selfless attitudes.

When we think of being "spiritual" - let's realise that it is not our gifts that make us spiritual, but it is our fruit. The fruit of the SPIRIT is just that - something spiritual which we cannot grow ourselves without the Spirit of God working in us. Jesus said we would be known by our fruit, not by our gifts. (Matthew 7:16)

So here is the fruit of the Spirit as shown to us in Galatians 5:22-23 - "But the fruit of the Spirit is LOVE, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." And thinking about it without LOVE we cannot have the other fruit in our life, love covers it all.

God made us in His image, He has made us spiritual and physical beings - God is Spirit, and God is LOVE. (John 4:24, 1 John 4:8)

To show us His love God sent His Son into the world as a physical tiny baby human being. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) And Jesus grew up and lived demonstrating to the world the love of God.

Jesus did this not only in the way He lived, but in the way He died. I don't know who came up with these words but they ring true...

I asked Jesus "How much do You love me?"
"This much," He answered.
Then He stretched out His arms and died.

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).
Know this - that God loves you - more than you can know - He loves you. Jesus arose from the dead, continuing to demonstrate God's great love, offering us new life, and calling us to the most excellent way - a life of LOVE.

May we receive His love today and give ourselves to Him.

May the Holy Spirit cause the fruit of Love to grow in our lives as we - people made in the image of God who is love, seek to follow Jesus - the full expression of God's love to us.

... and may you know the most excellent way!