FAITH ACTIVE IN LOVE
1 Corinthians 13:1 “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”
Faith is active in love. “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” (Galatians 5:6) You know that Jesus summarized the Ten Commandments into two: “Love God” and “love your neighbor as you love yourself.” There are any number of verses in the Bible that say if you say you have faith, but the faith you say you have is not accompanied by love for God and your neighbor, your faith is a “fake-faith.” The Bible says, your true faith in Christ is acted out in how you live out your faith in your words and actions toward others.
James, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” Then in the next verse, verse 17 he states, “Faith without works is dead.”
God has demonstrated how love is active, “God loved the world. . .gave His only begotten Son . . .” (John 3:16) “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
The gracious love God has poured into your heart is active, dynamic, ever working for your good and the good of your neighbor. Note what the love God has put into your heart is like, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)
Prayer: O LORD, You have poured into my heart and soul a bountiful measure of Your love. Your word says I am to love you and my neighbor. Be with me to draw upon the Love You have given me through Jesus, that as He has loved me, I am able to love others. In His holy name. Amen.
Love in Christ is strong and living, Binding faithful hearts one; Love in Christ is true and giving May His will in us be done.
Love is patient and forbearing, Clothed in Christ’s humility, Gentle, selfless, kind, and caring, Reaching out in charity.
Love in Christ abides forever, Fainting not when ills attend; Love, forgiving and forgiven, Shall endure until life’s end. (LSB 708)