Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:37-39 NIV)
I was working my way through the book of 1 Corinthians last week when I arrived at that very famous “love chapter” that is often read at weddings:
And yet I will show you the most excellent way.
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a 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 I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13 NIV)
Although there is plenty to unpack in this passage, what first caught my attention was the section title in my NIV Study Bible: “Love Is Indispensable.” The Apostle Paul is reminding us that, no matter what, love must undergird all that we do, say, and are. It made me think that if “man cannot live by bread alone” (Matthew 4:4), then we cannot live without love either.
Something that is indispensable is absolutely necessary — essential, critical, and vital — something that cannot be omitted or spared. We need air, water, reasonable temperatures, food, and sleep to survive. But I would argue that we also need love in order to live well. Blaise Pascal wrote, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each person which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator.” That God-shaped space within us is a place created for love: love from God and love for God, love from others and love for others.
This need is part of what makes us uniquely human. We need love. We need God, and we need each other.
Today, may we remember that love is an indispensable part of our lives. And may we, in turn, love God, others, and ourselves well.
God of Love,
Thank you for being the perfect example of Love, and for calling us to live lives that are filled with love. We thank you for your indispensable love, and pray you will help us love well those around us. Give us more of your Spirit so we have more of this “fruit” of your Spirit. Help us love you, love ourselves, and love each other in ways that are fully aligned with your perfect wisdom and your Word. In Jesus’s name we pray, AMEN.
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'” (Matthew 4:4 NIV)