Finding Purpose Through Love: Talk is Cheap!
READ: 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3
FOCUS: 1 Corinthians 13: 1
“Verse 1: 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”
A man decides that he wants to marry the girl that he is currently dating. He surprises her with tickets to Cape Town for the weekend and they spend the Saturday driving around the garden route and stop for lunch at a quiet wine estate. That afternoon they are driving back the Cape Town and the gentleman surprises her once again with a Hot Air Balloon ride. She has always dreamed of this moment and now it is finally happening.
Up in the balloon with the Ocean on the one side, lapping the shore beneath them, and the Cape Winelands stretching out on the other side. He turns to her and recites a poem that he has been struggling to write for the last few months. The words are the most eloquent words she has ever heard, they touch her deep in her heart. She feels so much in love with the man before her. He asks her to marry him and she accepts.
Heres the hiccup:
Later on in life the man becomes complacent and his new wife starts to feel unloved because of his selfish behavior. As much as he says he loves her she will not feel loved. He can buy her all the presents in the world and she will not feel loved. What she needs is obedience… That man promised to love her, to care for her, to respect her, to build her up, to help her and to support her.
As he became complacent in their relationship he started spending more time at work, less time with his wife, more time with friends on the weekends and less time helping her around the house, more time in front of the TV and less time talking to her like they used to.
This man has become disobedient to the very promise that he made to his wife.
My wife once said to me when I told her I loved her that I don’t need to tell her, but rather my actions towards her would tell her that I love her. (This is why I love her so much!!)
How often do we proclaim our love to God. We sing “How Great is our God”, “I Love You Lord” and “Blessed be your name.” But it is our obedience to the laws in His Word that gives those words meaning, that brings those words to life in Gods eyes.
Our words and even the words of angels are a resounding gong. A loud harsh noise that only attracts the attention of those around us. If we want our words to mean something more than a ‘resounding gong’ to your heavenly father then we should make sure that our lives are obedient to His laws, to His ideals, to His will, so that He can see that we really mean the words we say to him.
ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS!!
1 John 5:3 gives us a litmus test of how our love for God is shown to God.
“This is love for God: to obey His commands. And His commands are not burdensome.”
Everything you do at church or at home in your attempt to show God that you love Him will only been seen as love if your heart is in such a place that you are not burdened by God’s commands. Rather you see the purpose of His commands and how they actually set you free.
Note: God’s commands are not designed to restrict us but rather to aid us in living fuller lives in Christ who saved us and the God who loves us
