Finding Purpose in Love: Our Motive is Never Hidden from God
Read: 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3
Focus: 1 Corinthians 13: 3
Verse 3: “If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
God has gifted us with the ability to achieve many many great things. We can acquire wealth. We can show compassion on those in need. We can rally people up to give to a very meaningful cause. We can give our time, resources and energy to the church, or any other cause that may seem Godly.
The people around us may thank us and we may receive a lot of positive feedback because of what we have done but if we did it without the love that God instills in us – we have nothing.
We need to realise that the almighty God created us. He created us in His image. Surely that means that we can do pretty incredible things in our own strength. Bill Gates designed windows and subsequently became the richest man in the world earning millions a day. He did that on his own. Hitler raged a war on the Jewish nation that shocks the world even to this day. He did that on his own. Oprah Winfrey has become the most influential women in the world and she did that on her own.
People are beautiful creations and are capable of many great things. That’s how God created us! However, like we have seen in the previous verses, without love guiding our thoughts and actions, without love guiding us to obedience, without love moulding our success – we have nothing.
We can look at it another way as well. God created us in His image. Is it possible then that we are designed perfectly to carry the love of God? I believe we are, and I believe that our primary purpose is to display God’s love to the people around us. As we obey God in loving those around us, we love God in our obedience to Him.
You see, unless we are fulfilling the purpose we were created for, the purpose God created us for – we have achieved nothing in the eyes of our God. That’s because ‘love is our purpose.’ in Matthew this is commanded to us by Jesus as the Greatest Commandment (Matt 22: 36-38)
“”Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.”
