"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" (1 Corinthians 13:1-3 NIV).
Sometimes as Christians we get so caught up in our spiritual blessings that we forget that there is a world outside the church walls that is lost and hurting. We celebrate our spiritual giftedness, but without the love that perfects them, they do not edify others. They only edify us. Pursuing perfection without love, our language becomes as noise, our wisdom and faith as nothing, and our sacrifices gain nothing.
But when we exercise our gifts with Christ's love as our motive, we experience the perfecting power of love. Love causes us to speak in a language the world can understand. It causes us to offer wisdom and faith to those who struggle in ignorance and doubt. Love moves us to give ourselves away to those who cannot repay us.
Christ's love keeps us from coming across as what comic Michael Jr. calls "oversaved." We heard Michael speak at this year's Catalyst Conference in Atlanta. Check out this link to hear his take on this. And if this offends you, then you might be …
Yes, all my oversaved friends thought I was in sin because I didn’t root for the Saints last year.