Only God Is Love
1If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing. 3If I give away all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing. 4Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, 5doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; 6doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with. 9For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; 10but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with. 11When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known. 13But now faith, hope, and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love.
Picture, if you will, a bride’s procession as she rides in a palanquin toward the house where her bridegroom is waiting.
The bride in the palanquin would be thrilled at the thought of meeting the bridegroom, and her heart would be full of love for him.
The bearer at the front knows the love between the bridegroom and the bride. So even though the road is long and rough, that bearer runs hard, carrying the same hope as the bride.
And the bearer at the back cannot see what lies ahead, yet goes on in silence, trusting that the bearer in front, who carries the hope of joy, will bring the bride to the bridegroom’s house.
Because she has bearers like these, who carry hope and faith with a heart that blesses her, the bride is able to meet the bridegroom she loves.
Believers, too, hold love for God in their hearts.
They run on with the hope of heaven, where Christ the bridegroom is waiting, and they have faith that they will surely meet the bridegroom they love. That faith is why they are not afraid of the long, rough road of life.
In this world, only faith can help keep love from being corrupted.
Only with hope toward heaven, love toward Christ, and a faith that endures until we meet the bridegroom can we boldly drive back Satan’s temptations and look to Christ alone with a gentle heart.
True love has God at its center.
For example, when you draw a circle with a compass, you press the sharp point into the center and turn the compass around that point, and a circle is formed.
If the center where the compass point rests is God, then you can think of everything inside that circle, all of it within the same radius, as the fence God has made. That circle is where believers who receive God’s love must be.
The life of believers who live by God’s love inside the circle he has drawn for them is free in every part, under the protection of the Holy Spirit.
But outside the circle, however good a human deed may be, it cannot save a soul, so it is only human love.
Of course, when I say this, people of the world who do not know that only God is love may feel uncomfortable, and it may sound forced to them.
But if meeting the bridegroom is the reason the bride is riding in the palanquin, you will understand what I am saying now.
If we see that people are born into the world for the salvation of their souls, and that death is the completion of that salvation, then a person can be saved only if God is at their center.
Only when every human life is planned around the saving of souls is it love, wholehearted devotion, and the perfect life of a believer.
Of course, as we live in the world, we need to help our neighbors with a good heart.
Even now, many people help those in need, share, and sacrifice themselves out of human love, and those good deeds may be why the world is as livable as it is.
But that love will stop when the heart changes. It is a limited love that has nothing to give once the money runs out.
Such a good heart is not inside the circle God has drawn. So even when it does good, it cannot show the other person the way to heaven after death. The one helping is also groping in the dark, and that is what makes their good deeds such a pity.
The goodness of the world is not connected to salvation.
People know they should live good lives, but they themselves do not know for certain what life is, why human beings must die, or where the soul goes after it leaves the body. So all they can offer is comfort that touches the other person’s feelings.
Suppose you were caring for someone near death. If you could tell them clearly where the soul goes and how, its purpose and direction, then neither the caregiver nor the patient would be so afraid of death.
If you tell them rightly that the final destination of human beings is heaven, and that to go there they must receive Christ, who is the way, they will know for certain where they are going after death, and the fear of death disappears.
If you are planning to do something good, be sure to make your plans with the saving of souls as the goal.
Love is not something you can give by forcing it.
Love without a sure faith is like a thin tin pot. It heats up quickly and cools down just as quickly, so the one who receives it can end up hurt instead.
If we want to love truly, we must hold God’s unchanging love in our hearts and let its light shine. The love we receive from God never rusts and lasts forever, and that is why we may give it away as freely as we like.
The love given by people made of dust is, in the end, darkness, so the one who receives it cannot be spiritually free. That is why only when God’s love is given can they enjoy true freedom and be happy with the hope of heaven alone.
1 Corinthians 13:1
1If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.
Gifts are not something people can receive just because they want them.
God gives gifts because he wills to reveal his glory through the faith of believers. So we must always keep the vessel of faith ready.
Someone who receives a gift without the vessel of faith may speak in tongues and prophesy, but if they do not understand the Word spiritually, they cannot live by it. Then that gift is like a clanging cymbal.
A cymbal struck by someone who does not know how to play it is just an unpleasant noise. In the same way, if people receive the gifts of tongues and prophecy from God but do not understand the Word and so cannot live the life of a believer, their tongues and prophecy are like garbage that cannot bring a soul to life.
For example, a mother told her child to study hard at school. The child boldly told her not to worry, since in math class the child took out the math book, and in Korean class the Korean book, and did not disturb the lesson.
Hearing this, the mother worried and asked what good it was just to take out the books. Taking out the book was not what mattered, she said; the child had to solve the problems.
Then the child answered, again with confidence, that even without knowing the math formulas, they had solved every single math problem without skipping one.
The frustrated mother said that solving problems without knowing the formulas can only lead to wrong answers, and that the child could write the right answers only by memorizing the formulas and understanding the principles. But the child had already shut their eyes and ears and solved every problem their own way. Every problem the child solved would have been wrong.
In the same way, going to church, worshiping, and serving without knowing God’s will is like simply taking out a book in every class.
Some people attend every service, give their tithe, and serve, believing that if they go to church faithfully they will receive the blessings of the world. They are like the child who solves problems without knowing the formulas.
However hard such people work at church, their hearts are always empty, because God is not at their center.
Only believers who, inside the circle full of God’s love, realize how precious God’s word is and live it out can carry out the mission God has given, like the child who knows the formulas and solves the problems. As their reward, they receive salvation, and they also receive answers to their prayers in this world.
A child who knows the principles when solving problems understands the very thinking of the person who set them. That is why the child can write the right answers.
But a child who does not know the principles solves every problem their own way, and so every answer is wrong.
That is why it matters to grasp and understand God’s heart first.
A church that has left its center is already no church, and a churchgoer outside the circle is already no believer.
A cymbal is certainly a musical instrument, but used wrongly it becomes noise. In the same way, people may go to church, but if they do not know God, their whole life becomes a life that has nothing to do with God.
Not long ago, I advised someone that faith comes first. The person replied that they had a quiet time every day, served in their church department, and read through the Bible once a year, so I should acknowledge their faith.
But the very act of saying so shows that what this person does is already not faith, and that they are not a child of God. For a true child of God, during a quiet time, sees themselves failing to live by the Word, and so would fear God. And even while serving, they would be ashamed of themselves for not working harder.
Reading through the Bible only once a year, they would feel so sorry for not knowing God’s heart more deeply that they could not even bring themselves to say that they read the Bible.
Just saying that you are doing something is, in itself, already pride that stands outside the circle.
To put it simply, someone who carried a few logs for Noah while he built the ark could not say that they had built the ark. Even if they had made the ark’s last door together with Noah, it would be the same: they do not know why the ark was built, so they are not saved.
If you are a believer who loves God and understands his will, you must believe that the flood is coming and go into the ark.
But today many people say they know God because they go to church, give offerings, and serve; in other words, because they carried a few logs and watched the ark being built.
For believers living a life of faith, worship, offerings, and service are a matter of course.
Would anyone who knows that the only way to escape the flood and live is to board the ark refuse to carry the logs or to coat it with wild honey?
In the same way, to be saved we must keep the faith, and along the way, worshiping, giving offerings, and serving are only natural.
1 Corinthians 13:2
2If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing.
In 1 Samuel there is a scene where David flees from Saul, who is trying to kill him, and goes to Ramah to live with Samuel.
When Saul heard that David and Samuel were at Naioth in Ramah, he was furious and sent messengers there to seize David.
At that very time, the company of the prophets was prophesying under Samuel’s teaching. When the messengers arrived to seize David, God’s Spirit worked so that the messengers also prophesied.
Saul heard that the messengers were busy prophesying instead of seizing David. Dumbfounded, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied too. Even the messengers he sent the third time received the spirit of prophecy.
Saul was told that, far from seizing David, the messengers were prophesying right there along with the others. So he came to Naioth to seize David himself, and when he arrived, God’s Spirit came on Saul, and he too prophesied before Samuel, naked, all that day and all that night. It was an event in which God stepped in with power so that no one could harm David.
Here is what this shows us. Saul and the messengers received the spirit of prophecy and prophesied all day, yet that does not mean they revealed God’s glory. For even after experiencing the amazing grace of prophesying, once God’s Spirit left them, they again set their hearts on evil, determined to kill David.
In the same way, even if Saul experienced God’s great grace, had knowledge of the mysteries of heaven, and for a moment even showed faith that could remove mountains, it meant nothing, because Saul did not do God’s will in the love of Christ.
In the church, too, we see people who devoted themselves and served eagerly abandon their faith in a moment and turn away.
Believers cannot understand such behavior, and they may well be bewildered at why such a choice was made.
Such people fall apart easily because their faithfulness was not offered within the circle drawn by the compass, with God’s love at its center.
God called you for one reason only: to forgive your sins.
Jesus came for salvation. Without fully understanding this, however hard people work at their life of faith, that life is all lived by their own thinking, like math problems solved without knowing the principles.
So however much they insist it is faith, it is not true faith.
Human effort that strays outside the circle of love God has drawn is in vain.
Even if someone loved enough to give their life, that love is utterly in vain, because it is not a love that leads to heaven.
One of the words heard most often in the world is “I love you.”
People may confess their love without ceasing, but that love breaks when human feelings change, so it cannot be an eternal love.
Verses 4-5 say that love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil.
The love of 1 Corinthians 13 is God’s love.
God loved sinners with this kind of heart, so you, too, ought to show this kind of love in your lives.
To keep love, how patient have you been?
And how long have you waited for love to bear its fruit?
As you gave and received love, how thankful have you been?
Love shines when it lifts the other person up, and its fruit grows beautifully when it waits and is patient.
There are many kinds of love: between husband and wife, between parents and children, between friends and brothers, and even between neighbors. But without God at the center, they cannot become one.
Love gives without conditions, as God does.
No parent raising a child thinks of being paid back for the upbringing once the child is grown. For parents are satisfied just to see their children do their part well and live their lives in the world.
God, too, rejoices just to see believers live by faith and handle the world well.
People who behave inappropriately are small-hearted. What they have in common is that they want people’s praise and want to be recognized.
And when they do not hear the answer they want, they behave inappropriately.
And people who seek their own gain pretend to obey when they need something, and then grow proud once they seem to have gotten everything they wanted.
But God is not one to be used by human beings, so those who seek only their own gain will come to a miserable end in the end, as Saul did.
What you must know is that human praise lasts only for the moment, but God’s praise is eternal and comes with a reward in heaven.
Do not try to win recognition from people. I hope you will receive praise from God instead.
1 Corinthians, verses 6-7
6doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Believers know that they are not citizens of this world but citizens of heaven. So they do not think evil thoughts in order to have more of the world.
Because they have met the great God, they are never proud. Because they know heaven and hell, they do not behave inappropriately. And they would not foolishly insist on their own gain to possess a world that will perish.
Believers do not rejoice in Satan, who hides God’s glory, hinders the work of Christ, and attacks the Holy Spirit.
They give thanks and rejoice only in this: that they walk with Jesus, who is the truth, who bore the cross to save souls.
You know that there is an eternal world and eternal time. The love you have is a faith that endures suffering, a faith not shaken by the world’s temptations, and a great love that can overcome while looking toward eternal life.
This great love will bring us to meet Christ on the last day.
When we meet God on the throne, the joy will be beyond anything human words dare describe. So even if the tongues, prophecy, and knowledge we once longed so earnestly to receive are done away with, we will not mind, and we can lift our voices in praise.
In the time of the early church, when hundreds of thousands of Christians were put to death, they would not give up the hope of heaven. They willingly gave their lives to hungry lions, were stoned to death, and could smile even as they were burned at the stake.
When I see people who carry out suicide bombings, or who set themselves on fire because they cannot contain their anger, my heart aches. They say they die for a sense of mission or for their pride, but I can guess how terrifying the emptiness must be that they feel when they die and see a hell that is nothing but darkness.
Some people end their lives because the world is hard, because they are ashamed, because they fall short, because they cannot bear it. Death comes to everyone once, but the place they go after death is hell, harder, more fearful, and more terrifying than the world. That is why no one must ever carelessly end their own life.
1 Corinthians 13:12
12For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known.
The gifts believers have received now are all partial.
They are given to let us know, even if only in part, the eternal world we cannot see. So even though we hear and understand only in part, those gifts of the Holy Spirit are precious, because they show us the eternal world and help us believe.
But on the last day, when the angels’ trumpets sound, we will hear the Word directly from Christ. Then there will be no need for tongues, much less for prophecy. Even the faith we kept while ready to be martyred will no longer be needed.
Until now we have heard and known God only in part, as if we had only ever talked with him on the phone; then we will see his face ourselves. We will see with our own eyes the hands and feet of Jesus that were nailed, and heaven itself, with its countless martyrs and angels and its golden street. Such is the amazing blessing that believers whom God loves receive.
How could believers who believe such a miraculous truth not be patient? How could they not have a kind heart?
Believers who know that God lives, and who possess a heaven that nothing could replace, do not grow angry, envy, and covet because they cannot own more of this perishing world.
Believers who know that behaving inappropriately out of greed, seeking their own gain, being provoked, and thinking evil thoughts are all utterly in vain would not give up heaven for the sake of the world.
Now you must live with pride in being the people of heaven.
Such faith will surely be able to show the miracle of removing mountains, and through that faith, souls that would have fallen into hell can be saved.
I hope you will live inside the circle of love that God has drawn through Christ. However much Satan tempts you from outside the circle, you must keep your faith, for eternal death is waiting out there.
If you hold fast to the faith you have now, God’s love will lead you all the way to the throne.
Do not be afraid. The faith, hope, and love God has given you so that you can live with strength in this dark world will always remain with you.
Like the bearers who brought the bride to the bridegroom, hope and faith will always be a fence around you so that you can do your work, and the love you hold in your heart will go with you all the way to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Now do you see how precious you are as the bride of Christ?
For the day you meet the bridegroom, you must cherish yourselves and treat yourselves as precious, as his bride.
May you always hold faith, hope, and love dear.