Journey of Paul
Week 2
Monday, February 5
Something and Nothing
1 Corinthians 13:2
2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
What is the one thing that might stand out on your resume?
I can remember in college when they were teaching us how to prepare our resume and other skills needed for when we graduated and entered the real world. If you had a good GPA, then you would want to make sure you highlight that. If you didn’t, then try to find extra-curricular activities to focus on instead. If you talk to someone in HR, particularly related to hiring and personnel management, they can teach you a lot about what makes a great and not so great resume. For the apostle Paul, there is one thing that needs to be highlighted, featured, and certainly not left off of the list; love.
Consider the other items on the resume such as prophecy, the ability to father all mysteries and all knowledge, and faith to move mountains. That is a pretty impressive list. But if we do not have love, we are nothing.
Prophecy is speaking to people on behalf of God, this is what the prophets did. Or consider very simply just the basic understanding of public speaking. Some surveys say that people are more afraid of speaking in public than of death. So that is to say, people might prefer to be in the casket than to have to be the person who speaks in front of it. How many of us would like even the simple ability to make a toast or to at least now break out into a dripping sweat next time we have to make a presentation at work? Prophecy would be a highlight on any resume or on any spiritual resume, but without love, it equals nothing.
Or consider now what Paul might say about fathoming all mysteries as a potential for making it to the top of the list of our resume. In 1 Corinthians 2: 9-13 Paul sheds some light on this subject -
9 However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—
10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.
Our abilities even in the realm of mystery are not of our own works, but they are by the Spirit. The Spirit cannot abide that which is not love. Even if we use our intellect to the best of our abilities, without love, it is nothing.
Faith is another important part of our spiritual resume, if not the most foundational. Even this is a gift given to us by God - Ephesians 2. If our ability to possess faith is mountain-moving, apart from love, it is nothing. We are left then with simply mountains moved from one place to another. It doesn’t get us or them anywhere. Love has to be the central defining and greatest part of who we are.
Paul wouldn’t say that prophecy, knowledge, or faith are not important, not by any means. But he places a particular emphasis and color to it. These things are good and important, but if love is separated from them, then whatever we would make of ourselves as important, it becomes nothing. Love is the most important thing. It goes to the top of your resume. Let love be the ultimate something in your life. If it isn’t, then it’s nothing.
Prayer
Turn my nothing into something with your love. Amen