Tina Turner in the 80s had a hit song, which made the top ten and it stayed there for a significant amount of time. She titles the song what love got to do with it? She says it’s a second hand emotion, Tina’s meaning had a sensual connotation, but my question has an eternal connotation.
The apostle Paul authored one of the most beautiful chapters of literature the world has ever known. They read it at nearly every weeding. Paul goes on about that crazy thing call love. When Paul says love never fails the Greek word for fail is (ekpipto) it really means, to fall apart. It was used of a flower or leaf that falls to the ground withered and decays. It says love never fall apart. It is meant in the sense, that love never falls away and disappear; it never quits, it is never used up. Love will never collapse, love will never fail, or to put it positively love is eternal.
Many waters cannot quench love nor can the flood drown it. If a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised.
The Corinthians held some of the gifts in high esteem, such as the gifts of prophecy; the gift of tongues; and the gift of knowledge, Paul says these are transitory but love is eternal, it is permanent it will never fail. But spiritual gifts, even those you value so highly, will be done away with, they are transitory.
Prophecy is the ability to speak for God directly to a person, or a group on God’s behalf. Knowledge is to have practical insight that sees how to put ethical wisdom into practice. The gift of faith is to believe that God can make the impossible happen that He can move all mountain out of the way, the gift of faith is to believe in the wonder-working of God; a faith that believes miracles still happen because God is great because God is omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresent. Paul is saying that exercising any of the gifts without love is useless.
How could using the gift of prophecy without love become a bad thing? Well what if you have a word from the Lord to someone and refused to tell them because you didn’t love them? Or, what if you told them but in a mean, hurtful, way. With this gift comes the responsibility to use it lovingly. Paul goes on to explain what this love looks like. In the Greek it’s called (agape) this is how God loves us and how we are to love each others. Agape love is that love that is unending and undeserved. We could never do anything to earn God’s love. Paul uses agape to describe love:
Some of the characteristic of agape Love: it is Patient it mean we have a long fuse, it mean we are long suffering. Love is Kind to be kind means to be nice; it’s to refrain from being overly critical of others. It considers people’s weakness and doesn’t expect them to be as prefect as we are. Agape is forgiving. Love does not envy to envy is to want what others have. It’s to covet other’s possessions. How is envy unloving? Envy pits you against others, making you feel like rivals, not brothers or sisters. It puts your eyes on their possessions, making you forget that they are persons.
Another characteristic of agape love is it does not boast and is not proud, people who are boastful and proud don’t really see the person they’re talking to. All they see are their own accomplishments. They use people, as sounding boards only. Agape love is not rude how loving is it to cut someone off on the highway? How loving is it not to hold the door open for someone else? Agape love is not self-seeking; you might say why no? Because we are disciples of the one who came to be a servant to others. So, we also are to be servants of others. Love is not easily angered. Agape love keeps no record of
Wrongs instead of keeping a record of all the time we’ve been hurt, what does love do? Love forgives and forgets. Love does not delight in evil. This means that love isn’t happy when something bad happens to another person, no matter how mean that person has been to us. Jesus taught us, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Mat. 5: 44) Love rejoices with the truth. Love is on the side of truth, not on the side of lies. Love always protects. It always protects others from harm. Love always trusts. Love always believes the best about other people. Love always hopes, love believes that no person is hopeless, beyond redemption or having their life straightened out.
What Love got to do with it? Love has every thing to do with it, we are command to love, for God so love, and we are to love the Lord with all our heart, mind and soul and our neighbor as ourselves. Love covers a multitude of sins; God’s banner over us is love; we are to love justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God what love got to do with it? Everything; this is how the world will know that we are disciples of Jesus Christ because we have love one for the other. Jesus said if you love me you will keep my commandment, beloved let us love, for God is love.
