1 Corinthians 13

            Because we may have a gift or several gifts of the Spirit, it should not make us think that we are better than anyone else.  Because we pray in tongues or prophesy or have the gift of faith or the gift of knowledge, those gifts should not make us proud or boastful or conceited.  And if we were to exert ourselves to give all our goods to the poor or sacrifice our body to fire and have not love and humility we are nothing. 

            The love Paul talks about in Corinthians is a love that denies self, a love that is patient and kind, a love that esteems others better than oneself, a love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.  It is a love that does not consider itself but others.  Christian success can lead to pride and arrogance.  Paul is trying to help us see that God gives us gifts and blesses us not because we are better than anyone else but because of his mercy and grace.  It is not to him that wills or to him that runs but it is God who shows us mercy so that no man can boast.

            To achieve this level of grace means that we have overcome sin by the blood of the lamb so that sin does not have dominion over us.  It means that we have overcome the flesh so that we walk in the Spirit and do not fulfill fleshly lusts.  It means that we take up our cross and deny ourselves and follow Jesus in sacrificial love.  It means that we have suffered for Christ through trials and temptations and have endured knowing that if we share in the sufferings of Christ we will also share in the resurrection.  This kind of love never fails. 

            It takes a long time to achieve this level of love.  It is not a one shot deal.  It means we see ourselves as we truly are and pray that we may be like Christ knowing full well that unless God gives us grace we will utterly fail.  But as we see ourselves and smell the fragrance we project we will come to repentance knowing that only God can make us in his image and likeness.  Christ is our model and Christ is our goal.  By striving for holiness and humility and compassion and grace God can do the impossible.  He can make us like his son.  He can empty us of pride and ambition and conceit and fill us with his Spirit and use us as he chooses.  So let God have his way with you and see yourself as you truly are and repent and ask God for grace.  Then we will be like Jesus and we will walk in love.  Amen

(What must I do to be saved?  Believe in the Lord Jesus)