Without love we are like a resounding gong – finding the space to speak in the name of Christ

1 Corinthians 13:1-2: “If I speak in the tongues a of men or of angels, but do not have 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 do not have love, I am nothing.”

If I am to take this well-known passage from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians seriously, then I must dig very, very deep, and come to God and Christ with utter humility seeking his forgiveness and transformation. This passage states clearly and uncompromisingly that nothing I say or confess or testify to about Christ’s liberation and healing (freely given to us all if we only ask him to come into our lives and change us root and branch), will have any resonance, meaning or relevance, if I do not love first. So, what is love? Again, the same letter and Chapter verses 4-8 states clearly and without compromise that:

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, 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. Love never fails.”

This passage on love is a tall order I know, and I must confess that I cannot do or be any of the above without the help of God and Christ being the source of all love. But it is only in continually submitting myself to this source, and letting my ego repeatedly die, that I can find the right space to speak anything to anyone in the name of Christ. So “Lord give me the wisdom to only open my mouth when I hear the prompt from you that I have found this space.”