Surprised by the Greatest Gift

I thought I was cool because God gave me the gifts of prophecy, apostleship, and teaching. Paul says, “First of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers…” (1 Corinthians 12:28). I thought I was incredible.

But I’ve had a change of heart. My gifts are not as cool as I thought. Sure, they appear to be at the top of the list, but right after Paul says, “Eagerly desire the greater gifts,” he says, “And now I will show you the most excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31). The gift he is about to describe is more important than all the ones he just mentioned.

I first began understanding this several years ago as I waited in a coffee shop. A lady was very late to help me with my spiritual gifts. After waiting a good half hour, I turned to Jesus.

“I guess I idolized a human again when I should have turned to you. Will you help me with my spiritual gifts?”

And I opened my Bible.

I wasn’t sure where to look, but as I flipped through the New Testament, I found some headings related to spiritual gifts starting in 1 Corinthians 12. I read straight through to the end of 14. When I reached 1 Corinthians 13:4, I was dumbfounded. I’d heard the love chapter at many weddings and thought Paul was describing a successful marriage. But he was not. He was telling us how to use our gifts. He was telling us the most excellent way, the gift that is greater than every other gift.

1 Corinthians 13 New International Beth Version

If you speak with the tongues of men and of angels, that’s pretty cool. I also speak in tongues. I love speaking in tongues. I wish everyone spoke in tongues (1 Corinthians 14:5). But if I were to use this gift of tongues without love, it would be better to remain silent. You see, when someone uses the gift of tongues without love, it is like going into the middle of the street and banging on a cymbal for no reason. It’s loud and annoying to everyone. It benefits no one.

If you have the gift of prophecy, that is wonderful. If you can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, you are richly blessed. These are some of the greatest gifts God bestows on his church (1 Corinthians 12:28). If you have faith that moves mountains, you will see a lot of cool things happen in your lifetime. You will see the earth change and healings happen and miracles astonish. You have power and influence in the Kingdom of Heaven, but only if you use these gifts in love. If you prophecy or understand or have faith without love, you are nothing. Nothing at all. You are like dust on the sidewalk that is good only to be swept up and carried away.

If you give all you possess to the poor, they will have more than they did. But sometimes, your gifts offend the poor. Sometimes they don’t want your money or your old clothes. Sometimes they want something else. Sometimes they want love. If you give your body to the flames or in some other way suffer as a martyr, you will experience a lot of pain for Jesus’ sake. But if you give up house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or anything else, you may or may not receive a hundredfold in heaven (Mark 10:29-30). You see, on the last day, the quality of our gifts will be tested (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). The root of our actions will be weighed. If the fire exposes the loveless quality of our work, we gain nothing.

Love is… well, you’ve heard it before.

Love never fails. Remember when I said I’d show you the most excellent gift (1 Corinthians 12:31)? The most excellent gift is love. It never fails. It is never forgotten. It continues when everything else passes away. You see, prophecies are only good for a time. Their purpose is to build up the church and bring unbelievers into the body (1 Corinthians 14:23-25). But when we stand before the throne, there will be no unbelievers. Prophecy will not benefit anyone.

Where there are tongues, they will pass away. The gift of tongues, given in one since to cross cultural barriers and bring people into the Kingdom, will be useless when every tribe, language, and people is found before the throne (Revelation 7:9).

Where there is knowledge, it will pass away. A time will come when no one will say to his neighbor, “Know God,” because everyone will know God (Jeremiah 31:34).

Now we know in part, and we prophesy in part. Any prophet can tell you that. Prophets don’t get the whole story. They are only given a piece of the puzzle. God speaks to them in parables and riddles (Numbers 12:6-8). But when we stand before God—the complete puzzle, the moral of our parables, and the answer to our riddles—who will want to hear half understood mysteries?

To say it in another way, our gifts are given for the building up of the body (Ephesians 4:11-16). But when the body is built, what good are the tools?

When I was a child and knew nothing about following Jesus, I thought like a child, I talked like a child, I reasoned like a child. I lived like the earth was all there was. But when I became a man, when I began to follow Jesus, I put my childish ways behind me. I lived with the responsibilities of walking in the Spirit. I obeyed my King and worked to serve him alone. And now, as I live on this earth and further the Kingdom, I see hope and healing stealing the hearts of men. It’s beautiful. But it’s only the faintest reflection of what we will see in heaven. In heaven, we will see fully. We will see things as they really are. There will be no veil to separate us from the fullness of the glory of God. We will know him even as he already fully knows us (1 John 3:2).

What then remains when everything else passes away? Three things remain.

1.      Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1).

2.      Hope never disappoints. It comes from character, which comes from perseverance, which comes from suffering (Romans 5:3-5).

3.      Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. Love always trusts, always protects, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Love is the greatest gift. Eagerly desire it (1 Corinthians 12:31).

Love is a big deal. All the other spiritual gifts are mockeries in comparison. Love is so wonderful God used an entire chapter to explain how far it surpasses every other good thing he gave us.

When I wandered into a church and someone offered to help me with all my problems ever, it was a love I hadn’t known. Before that, if I wanted something I had to fight for it. People would not make time for me. People could not help me. People were too busy making disciples to invest in someone who was already a follower of Jesus. At least that’s how it felt. (Even so, my old church gets a lot of things right and God is doing amazing things through them and they are wonderful. Every Bible believing, Jesus loving church is killing it in some ways and failing in others. I think we could all learn a lot from each other.)

But in this new church, people invite me to parties, reach out to me specifically, follow up with me to make sure I don’t forget, help me, listen to me cry without getting tired of me, don’t expect anything in return, don’t give up on me, don’t forget about me, don’t leave me out, notice if I am missing, and value me simply because I am made in the image of God. I don’t know how they have time to value me. It’s like they actually like me.

And the funny thing is, I’ve never heard these pastors talk about the charismatic gifts. I actually get the feeling they don’t quite understand me. As far as I can tell they have no understanding, experience, or instruction on how to practice prophecy or discern spirits. But they are astonishingly kind. I am continually astonished by their kindness. They love. They have the greatest gift down, and all the other gifts are useless without it. They can teach me to use my gifts because they can teach me how to love like Jesus does, and if I have love, everything else will follow. 

I’m sure some people will say, “But speaking in tongues is the mark of a believer! That church is full of godless heathens!” And I would say no. Love is the mark of a believer. If you want to know if someone is a Christian, look at the way they love.

Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 15:35). God is love (1 John 4:7-8). If we walk in him, we walk in love. If we say we walk in him but do not love, we lie (1 John 2:4-6, 10-11). Jesus’ love far surpasses any love we can imagine (John 15:13). His love is greater. His love is higher. His love is deeper. If we abide in him and he abides in us, love is the fruit (John 15:1-10).

If we are to eagerly desire the greater gifts, and love is the greatest, how do we get love?

Jesus.

We get love by getting Jesus. We get love by confessing with our hearts that Jesus is Lord, obeying him because we know his way is best, and believing in our hearts that he did not remain dead but is alive and seated at the right hand of God, willing to give life to anyone who asks (Romans 10:9).

Things to pray for:

I'm not very good at loving. Pray that God's love would saturate me and compel me to live like Jesus.