Doug Van Pelt

Love is the best

I've never really known Paul to speak in parables. Have you? So when he's talking about love there's an element of literal-ness that makes me wonder.

"And now I will show you the most excellent way. 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. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."

I guess he's being poetic, but this reference to moving mountains is only talked about elsewhere in the Bible by Jesus, Who says, "if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move." (Matthew 17:21) And: "...also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.'"

Some people will harp on that verse and try to tell us that faith is a force we can use to have our way (which is kind of out of balance with the overriding "His will be done" perspective), and still others will want to ignore this verse so they can avoid any of the errors or excesses of the "faith movement." It's right here, though. And Paul brings this up. I wonder if there's been any mountain moving in history. The closest thing I've heard is when Paul Crouch (yeah, the grey haired guy in a suit on tv) bought his first FCC license and frequency/station or something in Santa Ana, but there was a mountain that would block the signal. Somehow, though, it's as if the mountain isn't there and his TBN station broadcasts on channel 40 all throughout Southern California. Maybe that's a miracle, maybe it's not. I bet is someone physically moved a mountain, though, it'd be recorded in history (and tossing one into the sea would certainly cause tidal waves on another coast, wouldn't it?).

But the most important thing here (and the subject of chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians) is love.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

Wow. That is a good definition of love. It's almost like the Law in a way. I can look at that list and see where I come up short. Even in my marriage, how many times have I been rude? Self-seeking? Easily angered? Kept a list of wrongs? That list might tally up to a number too high. I wonder which number is higher: How many times I've NOT been self-seeking versus how many times I've been self-seeking.

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at January 6, 2006 10:17 AM