Today, I would like to talk you today about charity, or love. This will be in the book of 1 Corinthians. I hope this blesses you!
If you have your Bible near get them out so you can read and book mark this. So let's begin in the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians.
Verse 1 says, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity*, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling* cymbal."
Charity in this means love, tinkling in here means clanging. So if we tell somebody that we love them and we honestly don't have charity or love then it will just sound as though we are sounding brass or a clanging symbol. And if you think about it, if we sound as these things that can not only get annoying, but it can cause people to not want to hang around you.
Verse 2 states, "And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity I am nothing."
You can be the smartest person, the most faith filled person and you don't have love in your heart and you don't show love then you are nothing. And that is not just me saying that it says that right there in His word; and I think that that is cool in a way because it really humbles you. It's like you think that you're so much better than other people because you are so smart but you have so much hate in your heart then you are honestly nothing. The Bible says in 1 John 4:8, He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
Verse 3 says, "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."
Paul is saying though he gives up many sacrifices, it doesn't mount to anything because he doesn't have love in his heart or his actions.
Verse 4 says, "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,"
True love is patient and it is kind. True love has no jealousy within it. It doesn't boast and isn't proud.
Verse 5 says, "Doth not behave itself unseemly*, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;"
True love doesn't contain rudeness, it isn't selfish, it isn't easily broken and caused to tear apart, and it doesn't contain evil within it. If you love someone you won't be rude to them and be okay with it, you're not being selfish toward them. If you truly love someone you will not give that love up easily and you will not think evil toward them.
Verse 6, "Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth."
True love doesn't like sin it isn't cheerful in lies and sinful things, it rejoices in the truth and in the word of God which is the truth and it finds joy within doing the right thing.
Verse 7, " Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all thing."
True love is there for the long haul. It seeks out the best of the situations and it goes through a lot never losing what is enclosed within it.
Verse 8, "Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophesies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.'
True love never fails. Other things shall fail and cease but true love never will.
Verse 9, "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part."
In the Bible it tells us that eyes have not seen the glory of heaven, and we only know what we can and then prophesy off that because we can only speak of things that we know. Yes, we can speak things from God that we didn't know before we were going to say that and then you can learn something new in that way and continue on those things as you learn more.
Verse 10, "But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away."
So when what is perfect which is JESUS and the kingdom of heaven, when He comes back, the things in that we only know in part, it shall be opened up to us and we won't just know a part. I am not saying we will know everything because only God does but we really will know a ton more than we do now, we just have to be ready and we will inherit the kingdom of heaven and only then will we know.
Verse 11, "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away my childish things."
Paul is saying when he was a child he did childlike things, but when in fact he became a man, he stepped it up and put off the childish things.
Verse 12, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."
We will know everything as well as we are known. Our many questions will no longer be on our minds when we see Christ JESUS face to face and when we get to heaven.
Verse 13, "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."
You are supposed to have faith, hope, and love but the greatest of these is love because true love casts out a multitude of sin. I mean, look at JESUS He died for us, that is true love and it cast out all sins, all we have to do is call upon the name of JESUS and tell Him our sins repent thereof.
The Bible says as I have referred to in this post, that God is love and if we don't know love, we don't know God, because God is love. God's mercy remains always with what? Love, if we really think about it then we will see that everything it seems, boils down to love and how much God loves us. All of creation was made out of love because it was made from God who is love like the Bible states, many times and in many ways. Love is something that I greatly love, especially God's love because His love covers my sins and I enjoy love so much because it feels good. Love to me is joy. I have always had an addiction to love, and hearts and I don't mean love in a physical way, I mean by having loving actions such as giving someone something then yes, but I mean having a love for someone to where you care about them. It is hard and sometimes I fall short but like the Bible says we all fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), but I truly love and care about everyone. It is my passion, a burning passion in my soul and in my heart, to help people and to love them. When helping people you have to truly have a love for them because if not then it isn't going to work because certain people need a lot of time for you to be able to get them to feel better and like it says in the chapter above, love, true love, is patient and it is kind. You also have to have a kind heart because if you are mean to them you are not going to be able to help, you are going to make things worse.
There is something called checking yourself, I am sure you all have heard of it. You go through a list of things that maybe need to be changed completely or just worked on in your attitude and then you do what you can to make those things better. There should be a checklist when it comes to how you treat people as well and you should treat others with love because in the Bible it tells that we need to love everyone. You should go through and read these when seeing if you are in check with the way you are acting with "love" toward someone. Is your love patient, and kind? Is your love true, does your love need work? There is not a better time to change it than now. You are never too far in the wrong direction to turn to what's right; one step at a time. Our perfect example, if these scriptures aren't enough is JESUS, our LORD and Saviour, He had perfect love and He still does and shows it every day.
God bless you!
