words without love are empty…

if i don’t live a life of love, nothing i say will matter.

1 corinthians 13.1 (nlt), if i could speak in any language in heaven or on earth, but i didn’t love others i would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a claiming symbol. GOD says words without love are just noise. words without love are empty.

we’re really impressed by great speakers, great communicators. we love eloquence. we love charisma. we love to hear somebody really ring our chimes and really stir us. GOD says, “that doesn’t impress me at all. I don’t care how good of a communicator you are. I want to know if you love. is your life a life of love?” living a life without love means nothing i say will matter.

if i don't live a life with love, nothing i know will matter.

1 corinthians 13.2 (nlt), i may have the gift of prophecy. i may understand all the secret things of GOD. i may have all knowledge. but if i do not have love, then i am nothing.

you may be phi beta kappa, a mensa member, you may be brilliant, a walking bible encyclopedia, have incredible knowledge of science or math or literature or history. you may be a genius. but he says if you don’t have love in your life, all that you know is worthless. it doesn’t really matter. brilliance without love equals zero.

we live in a world where knowledge is exploding. it doubles about every six years in our society. we are smarter than we’ve ever been before than any other generation. but we still have the same old problems – war, terrorism, crime, abuse, prejudice, hatred, violence. why? because what the world needs is not more knowledge; it needs more love. without love, nothing i say will matter, and without love, nothing i know will matter. all the knowledge in the world can’t compensate for it.

just a thought here on the front porch…