Gifts & Love

So today I was at a different church then where I normally go, and the church was doing this series they named "Streetwise: 1 Corinthians", which is very cool, because as you know from past entries I am in 1 Corinthians! Anyways, they were on chapter 12, and they were focusing on verse 27

27"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is part of it.".

I decided to go an reread the whole chapter, and it was really cool how Paul is just like "you are important!" the whole way through. I mean, if you are in the Body of Christ, you have so much meaning, and people don't understand how important every part of the Body is.

22"On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,"

Then Paul goes on to talk about the importance of unity.
Unity: the state of being one; oneness.

25"so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it."

Being together in every situation is obviously God's heart for the church right now, I keep hearing message after message about unity and relationship. Because hard times are coming and isolation is the worst thing to do when you are going through a season of threshing or just of hardship.
At the end of this chapter Paul says to lust after greater gifts, so you are supposed to passionately ask God, and go after gifts, especially prophecy. But then all of the sudden in chapter 13, Paul the proceeds to tell everyone how worthless the gifts are, without love! He says you could fathom all mysteries, have mountain moving faith but its all worth nothing without love, basically you could be the coolest, most Christian-y person out there and your heart is without love, you gain nothing and you give nothing to the Body. All of these gifts are going to end when perfection comes (Jesus), all of the things we are supposed to lust after are going to cease, all of them except faith, hope, and LOVE.

8"...Love never fails...."

In verse 11, he then talks about how you need maturity in the gifts God's given you. Maturity to walk in love, to share your gifts.

11"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me."

12"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face."

When Christ comes back, we will see Him, face to face. How amazing that will be! Right now, we are just experiencing, the reflection of God's greatness. We are just in part, our knowledge is just part but we will be full. Jesus will return and we will fully know the greatness and goodness of God.

In closing, I want to reiterate the importance of every single person of the Body of Christ, if He didn't need your specific gifts and talents -- he wouldn't have made you. He is waiting for you to seek His gifts so you can grow and become mature. He wants to show you love and fullness.

13"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

Life without Love = :'(