The Priority of Love, Part 1

While the term “gospel,” directly translated, means “good news,” the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ begins with the tragic news that man by his nature is irreparably separated from God (1 Corinthians 2:14). Our carnal minds are at “enmity against God” (Romans 8:7), and the payment we owe for our sin is death (Romans 6:23). Thankfully, the story doesn’t end there, as the COMPLETE message of the Gospel is that you can be reconciled to God by abandoning your SELF. Your self-driven, self-absorbed, self-promoting, self-preserving efforts to be acceptable to God must be surrendered to the work of Christ by which He replaces not only your rottenness, but even your own righteousness with His.

The Gospel message begins with love. “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). You see, “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). As a messenger of the Gospel, the tools of my trade include my speech, my smarts and my spirituality. But the heart of the message is clear throughout Scripture, particularly in 1 Corinthians 13. It is that those tools alone are not enough. The fact is that without love I cannot by any means convey the truth of God that genuinely saves. “For the love of Christ constraineth us” (Romans 5:14); it goes before us. Of all the tools in my bag, “the greatest of these” is love (1 Corinthians 13:13). It is the core and foundation of every effort I make to promote the Gospel.

Love must go before my speech. I can stand before a crowd or an individual, with great command of the English language and give a rousing speech that is stirring, emotional and inspirational. I can be eloquent, articulate and profound, but if my words are not backed up by a Christ-like love for those to whom I am speaking, “I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1). With genuine love as the vehicle, my speech will be “alway with grace, seasoned with salt,” and I will know how to give an answer to those in need of a Saviour (Colossians 4:6).

Love must also go before my smarts. Teddy Roosevelt said, “They won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” I don’t know anything about Roosevelt’s spiritual life, but I know he was considered to be a smart man, and I know that this particular truth spoken by him is supported by Scripture. I know that, as a teacher, I can “understand all mysteries, and all knowledge” (1 Corinthians 13:2) and still be missing the main ingredient of whatever lesson I am attempting to teach. No matter how important the knowledge I wish to impart, it is meaningless without a real love behind it. The Bible says that knowledge puffs up, but love edifies (1 Corinthians 8:1). How tragic it would be to have the most critical, life-changing information to offer, yet have it fall to the ground rather than being received, simply due to a perception of pride rather than power behind my message.

Love must go before my spirituality too. I can “have all faith, so that I could remove mountains,” but if I don’t have love, I am nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2). No matter how spiritual I am, there can be no credibility in a message of faith that is given without love. A lack of love in my spiritual appeal will hide the truth behind it (1 Timothy 1:5). According to Galatians 5, “The fruit of the spirit is love.” Without it, the rest of the qualities spoken of in verses 22 and 23 cannot be manifested. Without love, there can be no joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness or temperance. Love is the priority; “love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10). The law was nailed to the Cross, but love prevailed!

Many have asked me what it was that brought me to the realization after 31 years that I was not truly born again. They wonder what it was that broke me, and challenged me to examine myself to the point where I finally realized my lost condition after so many years of living a so-called “Christian” life. Over the past 4 months I have pondered this, and have come to the conclusion that it was the people that have been in my life throughout those years, who have been real. It wasn’t those who put on a good show; I was doing that very well myself, without realizing it. While I was moved by great, eloquent speeches, it wasn’t enough to change me. I wasn’t impressed by their smarts or their spirituality either. I had been to Bible college, I was well-studied, and in my mind I knew all about what it meant to be spiritual. What really provoked me were the people who did for me what I had always struggled to do for others. They loved me where I was at. They didn’t judge me, but they challenged me. They showed themselves to be real people with real problems, just like I was. The difference was their love. By their example, I was able to see what was missing from my life, so that I too could become real.

Read Part 2: The Heart of Religion