More Than Just a Clanging Cymbal
It was a strange criticism. I was in my twenties when a pastor of a church told me that all I seemed to want to teach and preach about was love. I laughed it off, and then in my early thirties, the same pastor, now at a different church where I was temporarily serving, said the same thing to me. By this time, though, I had a better response.
Honestly, I don’t remember that teaching or preaching about love was the main thing in my repertoire of lessons and sermons, but I think there is a strong biblical basis that says that love is central to our relationship with God and with each other.
By the time of the second criticism, I had discovered that fourth century theologian and historian Jerome had once recounted the story of the apostle John in his later years constantly repeating this message, “Little children, love one another,” to the church in Ephesus. John understood that Jesus wasn’t commanding an emotional feeling but rather an intentional act of kindness and service.
I don’t remember which came first, but at about the same age, I met and heard an evangelist named Juan Carlos Ortiz. In one of his messages, he was talking about his church in Argentina, where, like Jerome, he was convicted to get up and state, “Love one another,” and then sit down behind the pulpit and wait. He apparently did this until someone in the church asked another in the service if they had a need which this convicted believer met. This started an outbreak of love and service within the local congregation that led to significant growth in the church.
Reading 1 Corinthians 13, we hear the familiar description of love:
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends…”
We often hear these words read in wedding ceremonies. And usually, we smile and nod in this sweet-sounding description of love. But it isn’t long after we leave the wedding that couples, as well as those who attended the wedding, start hearing an annoying and often seemingly unstoppable clanging sound. Sometimes we hear it at home. Sometimes the clanging happens at work. Often it is in the background when we engage with various forms of media and news. Eventually, we get used to this noise and do not realize what a hinderance it has become in our lives.
Paul indicated that Christ followers have been given a variety of gifts. And while all are to be used in our service to each other, this passage says that our gifts can just become an aggravating noise if we are absent from the foundation of love. Maybe we each need to do a heart check to see if our actions are based on love or if we have just joined in the aggravating noise and tone that is so prevalent in current culture.
As I think back to the criticism I received for focusing on love over other topics, I somehow think maybe I need to check myself and my work. Thinking back on those moments, maybe the criticism was actually a confirmation that as a young leader I was on the right track.
Father, when we read the words of Paul, we are convicted that we sometimes, maybe often, go about our work out of a sense of pride or obligation instead of out of love. Transform our hearts and minds to receive your love and to truly love others the way that you love us. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV
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