Motivated by Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (MSG)  If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.  If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.  If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

These are some pretty strong words and as I study them and piece together the message they convey I sense it is all about motivation.  I can be a gifted speaker, one who can talk with authority and elegance, but if my motives aren't right it is a waste.  If I possess the Spiritual gift of Faith and use this gift in amazing ways, but I do it all for my glory and edification, I am a loser in the game of life.

If I am generous to a fault, giving all I have to the poor, feeding the hungry but do it so that I can become known for my work; never pointing to God and giving Him the glory, I have wasted my energy and frittered away my life. 

If you have ever been on the receiving end of someone's self-indulgent behavior you understand how detrimental it can be. Any use of a gift when not shared with a pure heart, is no gift at all.  If I spend time with you because it makes me look good, not because I love you and want to share my life, all I did was feed my ego.  As the NIV puts it, "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." (1 Corinthians 13:1)

Jesus said "Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another." (John 13:34 (MSG) Love must always be our motivation. There is no substitution for love and it should be the reason we do everything.  Love is the reason God sent his Son to us.  "For God so loved the world..."



1 Corinthians 13