15 Feb, 2008
Gong!
Are you a clanging cymbal?
1 Corinthians 13:1-7
The Way of Love
13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (ESV)
What does today's God's Story scripture teach us about the connection between clanging cymbals and real love?
A little historical background of the culture in Paul's day will help us understand the answer. Corinth was the location of the early church to which Paul was writing this letter. In that city, in the first century, there was a big gong or cymbal hanging at the entrance of most pagan temples. When pagan worshippers came, they would clang the cymbals to "wake up" their pagan gods so they would listen to their prayers.
So, Paul is teaching that if we don't love others with Godly love (unconditional), everything else we have and do (even if it is really good and spiritual) makes us nothing. Without real love, the stuff we do is as useless as the ridiculous act of gonging a piece of metal to wake up a god that does not exist!
Our culture confuses real love and selfish lust. Godly love is clear. It is directed toward others without being self-centered.
Let your love for others be a beautiful sound. Let it be a symbol of God's love.
How can we connect today's God's Story scripture to our lives?
- Praise God that He alone is the only true living God! Thank Him that you don't have to try to get His attention, because His loving eyes are on you constantly. Confess any way in which you have been focusing on our culture's self-centered perspective on love. Ask Jesus to help you remember that God's love must be a priority in your life. Ask Jesus to help you make His kind of noise - the sound of unconditional love for others.
- Read today's passage again. In verses 4-7, how many practical ways to express love do you find? Review it every week for the next month. Write down the names of five people in your life to receive at least one of these expressions of love in 1st Corinthians 13:4-7.
How can we connect today's God's Story scripture and our story to others?
- Send today's DAILYBIDE to several of your friends who are followers of Christ. Invite them to get together and talk about forming a band. This will be a different kind of band - a small group of friends who are serious about being more than "clanging cymbals". Ask Jesus to show you how to put a love song together that will connect your stories in Christ to the stories of others who need to know Him.
- If you're a student in a band, go crash the cymbals in front of a couple of your Christian friends and use it as a conversation starter about today's scripture.
- For one month, do a weekly check to make sure you are following through on your "expressions of love" list that you wrote down in the "my story" section above.
- July 2008 [17]
- June 2008 [13]
- May 2008 [20]
- April 2008 [22]
- March 2008 [21]
- February 2008 [19]
- January 2008 [20]
- December 2007 [19]
- November 2007 [17]
- October 2007 [20]
- September 2007 [19]
- August 2007 [18]
- July 2007 [13]
- June 2007 [11]
- May 2007 [14]
- April 2007 [11]
- March 2007 [12]
- February 2007 [14]
- January 2007 [7]
- December 2006 [5]
- November 2006 [14]
- October 2006 [18]
- September 2006 [12]
- August 2006 [17]
- July 2006 [11]
- June 2006 [4]
