June 7, 2018 – I Corinthians 12:31

So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.  I Corinthians 12:31.

Even as our bodies are made of different parts, the Body of Christ is made up of many different people having different gifts.  Working together and caring for each other creates the Body of Christ as one.

I Corinthians 12:15-17 – illustrates how our hands, feet, and ear work together. The eye doesn’t say to the hand, I don’t need you. The head doesn’t tell the feet – get lost, I don’t need you.  Rather the members of the body work together, even as the Body of Christ works together with the different gifts given to them and care for each other.

What holds our bodies together?  The God who created us.  What holds people together as one?  Loving like our Lord God, who sent Jesus to teach us to love.  No matter how much we know, or how well we speak – if we do not love others as Jesus loves us – we are nothing in this world.

The next four verses, 4-7,  explain how to love. Use these verses, to test (evaluate) your ability to love. These four verses teach us how to love including, Love never gives up…

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. I Corinthians 13:1-3.