“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or clanging cymbal. 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. If I give all that I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” (NIV)

Do you have a truth-teller in your life? My 8-year-old is great at saying the truth, but we are working on speaking the truth in love. For example, his uncle recently asked him if he had fun at the splashpad he’d brought us to and instead of saying, “yes, thanks for bringing us,” he said something like, “No, I thought it was going to be better than this. It’s not really deep enough to have fun.”  

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He sees no problem saying things like this because they are true, but I’m continually challenging him to think about people’s feelings when he shares truth. In life sometimes it’s a gift to be able to say the hard truth, but it can also be extremely hurtful if the truth is spoken without considering the audience and their feelings, experiences, or emotional state.

Our gifts and strengths can become liabilities if not used with love and to show love. The Bible is clear that the Spirit gives believers a variety of spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12:7-11). But how we use those gifts matters, according to today’s verse. In the previous chapter, Paul is talking all about spiritual gifts. And then he comes to chapter 13, where he talks about how different gifts can be rendered useless. The church may have been abusing the gifts, using them to impress others or gain popularity in ways that they were missing the point of the gifts in the first place. According to one author, “the Corinthian Christians missed the motive and the goal of the gifts, making them their own goal.”  

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The key repeated phrase for all the examples Paul gives because with “if” and ends with “do not have love.” The Greek word used for love in this passage is agape, the unconditional, sacrificial love. The gifts given by the Spirit are meant for the glorification of God and edification of others. The truth-telling my son is so good at can be used to bring people to Jesus and connect them with each other. Prophecy is supposed to point people to return to the Father or share God’s plans. The mountain-moving is to show God’s power. One commentator quipped that a man with that kind of great faith “can move great mountains, but he will set them down right in the path of somebody else – or right on somebody else – if he doesn’t have love.”  

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If I say the right things, know the right things, do the right things, it’s not enough if I don’t have the posture of love. The gifts of prophecy, tongues, wisdom and mercy are all important and God-given but as one commentary said, “love is so valuable, so important, that apart from it, every other good thing is useless.” It isn’t gifts over love or vice versa, but the use of our gifts should be grounded in love.

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Where might you be using your spiritual gifts without the covering of love? Do your motives and goals in using them align with the heart of God, who is love and loved us first?

God, we thank you for the spiritual gifts you’ve given us. Help us start everything with a heart filled with love because God you are love. As we use our gifts to serve your Kingdom, may we not put our gifts above the people you have called us to serve. Thank you that you empower us to use the gifts by your Spirit. In your Son’s name we pray, Amen.