Have Not Love

1 Corinthians 13

Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

13 If with the tongues of men and of messengers I speak, and have not love, I have become brass sounding, or a cymbal tinkling;

2 and if I have prophecy, and know all the secrets, and all the knowledge, and if I have all the faith, so as to remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing;

3 and if I give away to feed others all my goods, and if I give up my body that I may be burned, and have not love, I am profited nothing.

4 The love is long-suffering, it is kind, the love doth not envy, the love doth not vaunt itself, is not puffed up,

5 doth not act unseemly, doth not seek its own things, is not provoked, doth not impute evil,

6 rejoiceth not over the unrighteousness, and rejoiceth with the truth;

7 all things it beareth, all it believeth, all it hopeth, all it endureth.

8 The love doth never fail; and whether [there be] prophecies, they shall become useless; whether tongues, they shall cease; whether knowledge, it shall become useless;

9 for in part we know, and in part we prophecy;

10 and when that which is perfect may come, then that which [is] in part shall become useless.

11 When I was a babe, as a babe I was speaking, as a babe I was thinking, as a babe I was reasoning, and when I have become a man, I have made useless the things of the babe;

12 for we see now through a mirror obscurely, and then face to face; now I know in part, and then I shall fully know, as also I was known;

13 and now there doth remain faith, hope, love -- these three; and the greatest of these [is] love.

This passage of scripture is, in my opinion, a very neglected passage. The religious today put more emphasis on works and sometimes even faith (which they claim to have mustered up themselves) than they seem to ever put on love. In fact love towards other sinners is seen as heresy in some cases. If you are a "Christian", God forbid you love others as Christ loves them.. no, no, no. They are gay?! Well they can not come worship God in THIS church. That man is a drunk?! Well if he were closer to God than he wouldn't be that way. The church and the religious system as a whole is built around self-righteousness and hate. Christianity condemns sins such as drunkenness, homosexuality, adultery, etc. However, it promotes two of the greatest injustices in the history of the world. Hate and Self-Righteousness. They go hand in hand. If you believe that you are righteous due to any effort at all on your part, you will become judgmental, because in your mind YOU did something right, whereas Bob across the street didn't. The myth of "free will" promotes self-righteousness and hate. Both of which the Lord despises.

So many today put so much emphasis on faith, yet forget it is GOD who gives them that faith. Listen to what Paul says though, "and if I have all the faith, so as to remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing;" You can have all the faith in the world! But if you don't have love, you are nothing.

When you realize that you play no part at all in your salvation, and that God through Christ has done EVERY ounce of the work for you and for everyone else that has ever lived, is living now, or ever will live, then (and only then) can you be free from self-righteousness and hate. Then you will truly be filled with the love of Christ and you will be free to share that love with everyone around you, regardless of their sexual orientation, habits, beliefs, and whatever else people are judged for.

Remember, you can have all the faith in the world. But without love, you are nothing...

More Than You Can Handle

Have you ever heard the phrase, "God will never give you more than you can handle?" I am sure most of you have. This is supposed to be an encouraging phrase, in order to motivate you to follow through with something, or to help you during a rough time in life. However, I believe this phrase to be inaccurate and quite amusing. In fact I find it to be completely false. People who use this phrase are missing the point of trials. God WILL give you more than you can handle. If you could handle everything thrown your way, why would you ever want to know God? What motivation would you have to be close to God? God gives people more than they can handle in order for them to rely on God.  Without impossible circumstances we wouldn't need God. Do you think Moses could handle delivering the Hebrews out of Egypt if it weren't for God's help? Imagine if Moses tried to do it alone, with no help from God. Nothing would have happened. Pharaoh would have laughed and went back to drining his tea. With God all things are possible, without God, nothing is.