I once heard a minister say that we need to take 1 Corinthians 13 more seriously. He noted that although it is often read at weddings as a sweet and charming description of love that the first three verses of the chapter are the most terrifying in the Bible. I have also come to believe that the first three verses are terrifying and address the root of most of the problems I have as a person focused on good works: “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.” -1 Cor. 13:1-3 It is striking to me that the passage in no way belittles the works themselves; conversely, it describes these works in utterly spiritual terms. Surely a person who can speak in the tongues of men and angels is spiritual. Surely someone who can prophecy or who has all knowledge is the epitome of spirituality. Surely someone whose faith can move mountains or gives all of his earthly possessions to the needy has a perfect faith. All of these people are doing good works, even great works, but it is of no use to them because their works lack love. Did you notice that? He didn’t say their works were fruitless because they lacked correct knowledge or because they didn’t get it “right” in some other way. In fact, some of them had “all knowledge.” These people are condemned for doing good works, perhaps in God’s name, without love. You might read this and say, “Yes, but works are important.” I certainly agree, but this passage tells us something more. It tells us that they are not the most important, and they are, in fact, worthless without love as their motivation. Imagine the impact we have on our hearts and the hearts of others when we display our “godliness” without love. How must it seem to those who do not know Christ when we are doing great works in his name without love? What if I want to prevent abortion and in working against that I don’t show love toward the women who seek abortions or toward the doctors who perform them? It is possible that I might win them over to my point of view, but without love, I will never show Christ to them. I can also easily deceive myself because I will have accomplished a seemingly “godly” task without godliness at all. And this is the scariest part to me: I can fool everyone else into thinking I am godly because of my seen works, and I can even deceive myself into thinking that because I “stood up for the truth”, but I cannot fool God. He says that without love as the base motivation for works in His name, I am nothing.

by Melanie Basham