Jesus Only: Part OneSample

Week 1, Day 6 - Friday

Measuring Growth: Love Is Better Than Service

Have you ever been to a wedding? If you have, the chances are good that this scene has unfolded before you:

The radiant bride and the beaming groom stand facing each other with love in their eyes. They join hands and sigh lovingly. It is picture-perfect. Then, the minister opens his Bible, looks tenderly at them, and this is what you hear:

“Love is patient. Love is kind. It is not jealous, it does not boast, and it is not arrogant…”

1 Corinthians 13, right? It’s a staple at weddings. And, while I do believe that the love between a husband and wife should look like that, let’s take a moment to look at this passage in its biblical context.

When Paul wrote the famous “love passage” in 1 Corinthians 13, he was not primarily talking about marital love. If you flip back one chapter to 1 Corinthians 12, you will see that Paul had just finished telling the Corinthian believers about spiritual gifts. His basic message in that chapter is, “Within the Church, there are many ways you can serve. And some people will be better at some things than others. Work together, using the things you’re good at, serving one another. We’re all in this together, so let’s work together.”

In the very last verse of chapter 12, Paul concludes his message on serving in the Church with this sentence: “But now, let me show you a way of life that is best of all.” It is from there that Paul begins his famous “Love Chapter.”

“Yes, you have gifts to serve, but if you do that service without love, then it’s like hitting a cymbal without the rest of the band to back it up.”

Paul wasn’t writing to the Corinthians, hoping to be quoted at weddings for the next two millennia. He was writing to let the Corinthians know that we have to live together as the Body of Christ when it comes to this life. What is flowing out of our hearts is more important than what is flowing out of our hands. 

Service is good. Serve each other, and use your gifts. But service without love is nothing. Love is better. Love trumps all.

Reflection Questions:

What ways or types of serving are you best at?

In thinking about it, how can you show you love while you serve?

Can you think about a time when you served without love?