What Really Matters in a Christian Community

Scripture Text: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Recently I saw the Box Office smash hit film ‘I Not Stupid Too’ by Jack Neo. The film showed that parents spent much time and effort to accumulate wealth so that their families could have a better life. Unfortunately in doing so, they neglected to show true LOVE to their children by giving of their time and presence. They focused on providing for the less important things (material things) and thought that they have loved by doing so.

Have we in our busyness neglected people who mean much to us? We need to take heed of the Great Commandment as Jesus calls it in Matthew 22: 37-39: “Love the Lord your God with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it:” Love your neighbor as yourself”. Paul realised that the Corinthian Church was spiritually gifted but lacked the ‘Love factor’. He wrote in 1 Corinthians 13 that if he were successful in all areas but did not have love, he would have failed. Why then is LOVE so important?

4 Important truths about LOVE

#1: LOVE IS A COMMAND

God is love and the most important lesson He wants us to learn on earth is how to love (1 John 4:8). It is in loving that we can reflect God’s being. Hence, love is the very foundation of what God wants us to do (Matthew 22:38). We must make loving one another our greatest aim.

#2 LIFE WITHOUT LOVE IS REALLY WORTHLESS

Paul said that he could boast about his intellectual acumen, religious standing and spiritual zeal but all these things come to naught in comparison to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ. It was in Christ that Paul became a changed man, that God’s love in him was expressed daily as he fellowshipped with his Christian brothers. Spending time and having a relationship with people is important. We must learn to love God and people.

#3 LOVE WILL LAST FOREVER

Another reason why we should love is that it is for eternity. The three things that continue forever are faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13). In our final moments, we realise that relationships are what life is all about. We will not ask to see the things that we have acquired but we want to be with the people whom we dearly love.

#4 WE WILL BE EVALUATED BY OUR LOVE

One of the ways God measures spiritual maturity is by the quality of our relationships with have with others. He will review how we treat other people, particularly those in need. Jesus says the way to love Him is to love His family and care for their practical needs “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one to the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25: 40)

How do we treat the people who come into our lives? Do we really care for others in our church or are we self-centred? Are we striving to allow love to be our greatest aim?

Prayer Response

Dear Lord,

Thank you, God, for Your love for me. Thank you that it was You who first loved me. Help me realise that I can give without loving but I cannot love without giving of myself, my time and my talents to those in need, just like You, Jesus did. Amen.

. Amen

- Devotional based on message by Rev Vincent Goh