Not Mine But His

Not mine but God's...

1 Corinthians 13:1-3, 8-10, 13 (MSG)

The Way of Love

"If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love."

I can plead with you and try to lead you my co-workers in Christ week in and week out, I can give you what free time I have, I can share what little I have, I can offer to you whatever wisdom, instruction and insight I've received from the Lord, but without the Holy Spirit living in me and more importantly without the love of Jesus which covers my inadequacies and my weaknesses, which binds up my battle wounds and gift wraps everything I've got to give, I cannot and will not ever be effective. Not mine, but His.

Let us soak in God's presence to give thanks and praise our ever present, patient and unbelievably loving Abba Father that we can still do what we can for His glory, for our benefit and for the hope of those around us and those He has given us to minister to.