IT'S YOUR DUTY TO LOVE PEOPLE AND GOD'S DUTY TO CHANGE THEM
'And these three remain, Faith, Hope and LOVE but THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE.
1 Corinthians 13:13
Apostle Paul taught about Spiritual Gifts which are distributed by the sole volition and perogative of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4). Hence the church is likened to the human body with each member having different spiritual gifts. However all of us have the gift of FAITH, HOPE and LOVE but THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE. These three cannot be separated, as the Christian life hinges and is dispensed on them. They are intrinsic to the new creature in 2 Corinthians 5:17: 'Therefore IF any man (generic) be in Christ, he (generic) is a new creature: OLD THINGS ARE PASSED; behold, ALL THINGS ARE BECOME NEW. KJV. These three gifts will NEVER end.
Paul also mentioned three other gifts that will end in 1 Corinthians 13:8: 'Where there are prophecies, THEY WILL CEASE, where there are tongues, THEY WILL BE STILLED, where there is knowledge, IT WILL PASS AWAY.'
The latter three (prophecy, tongues and knowledge) are 'attention getting gifts' hence most of us pride ourselves in them. However they are temporary. Don't remain in your comfort zone within the secured environs of the church speaking in tongues, prophesying and boasting in comparatively, superior knowledge of the WORD OF GOD.
The foundational gifts (Faith, Hope and Love) are permanent. They are gifts in the present and the future. 1 John 4:16 intimates that, God is LOVE: hence to LOVE, is God, because he (generic) who abides in LOVE, abides in God, and God in him(generic). Hence to LOVE PEOPLE, is to LIVE God.
FAITH is essential, because our FAITH in Christ Jesus will not cease in eternity just because we have beheld Him. It will rather grow stronger and eternally imparted to us. In the same vein our hope in Christ will not cease just because our blessed hope has become. However AGAPE LOVE is the ultimate gift: IT IS THE GREATEST OF THESE. SO LET LOVE BE YOUR GREATEST.
You cannot live out faith in God, without LOVE for God and your neighbours.
You cannot have hope in God without LOVE for God and your neighbours.
Likewise, you cannot have LOVE and not have faith and hope in whom you LOVE FIRST:
LOVE for God comes first and always. LOVE for your neighbours comes next and second to LOVE for God. But you cannot LOVE God if you don't LOVE your neighbours. The two cannot be decoupled.
Beloved, let's us LOVE for God is LOVE. Loving people causes faith and hope in God, to increase in them, thereby causing the transformation of the Human Spirit and Soul and eventually the Body on the second coming of Christ Jesus. How can you exercise your faith and hope in reaching out to the lost world if you don't have LOVE? Love covered multitude of sins and still does; So, IT IS YOUR DUTY TO LOVE PEOPLE not to change or condemn them. And it is God's duty to change them as you LOVE them, not to condemn them. So, trying to change or condemn people, is attempting to change or condemn the Human Spirit and Soul and eventually the Body. It is the sole prerogative of God, not yours.
Step out, chest out, chin in and LOVE someone today Let them see JESUS CHRIST in your eyes. Show them LOVE that they cannot deny or resist.
Bro Ritchie Edukwesi WOANYA
I LOVE YOU because LOVE is the ultimate gift and the greatest of the three foundational gifts; Faith, Hope and Love.
