Corinthians 13: Angelic Ecstasy

I have always found myself deeply moved by the passage of scripture found 1 Corinthians 13, which says, “And now I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy, but have not love, I am nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith to say to the mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr but have not love, I gain nothing.” I am continually reminded by these verses that I can do so much good and have so much, but, without love, what is there to gain? As Christians, we should demonstrate Christ’s love manifested on the cross. With that exact same love, he

God, the ultimate author of love, calls us to not only go deeper with him but to trust in his promises. As Mark Batterson once wrote, ‘If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re too small.’ So often I feel like we are all living in the tiny, safe bubble of self. Our natural inclination is to do anything we possibly can to receive praise from man, which boosts our ego and self-esteem, instead of praise from a God, who took on flesh and was crushed for our inequities. If we believe He did that out of love, then why do we play it safe? Why do we not dare to dream big and go against the impossible odds that God has the power to control? Is it because we believe what we feel secure believing and trash the rest because it doesn’t satisfy us? We lack the true love Paul talks about in 1st Corinthians, and, thus, we lack God, who is love. In conclusion, God only notices and rewards every act done out of love when we trust his promises, word, and commands and resign to his will