Conduits of His Love

October 1

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. (2) And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. (3) And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing,” 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.

This beautiful passage is an affirmation of the truth that we are to be, “doers of the Word, not hearers only,” James 1:22. The God we serve puts no stock in lip-service Christians. He admonishes against our pointing out the sins of others while overlooking the sins within ourselves.

As Jesus asked in Matthew 7:3, “Why do you behold the speck that is in your brother’s eye, yet you cannot see the moat that is in your own eye?” When we are searching for transgressions, our primary search should be within ourselves. In Matthew 23:27, the Lord goes on to say, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like to white washed sepulchers, ...”

He is very harsh regarding those who make a show of outward propriety while allowing the inner heart of who they are to be filled with hatred or lust or criticism of others. Jesus wants those who name His name to be overcomers—people who have truly placed the sin within themselves at His feet and allow it to be forever removed from them.

In I Corinthians 13:1-3, the Apostle Paul challenges even those who possess great spiritual gifts to assess themselves. The author of much of our New Testament literature makes a compelling point—the outward expression of our great faith and spiritual power is of no avail to us if we are void of love.

The scripture tells us that “God is love, and they who dwell in God, dwell in love, “ I John 4:16. If we are truly people who love the Lord Jesus and allow Him to dwell in our hearts and we abide in Him, there will be no darkness in us; rather, we will reflect the light of His love.

For us to go through the motions of Christianity without allowing the truth, the love, the light of Jesus to exude from our being is to be self-oriented vessels who project ourselves rather than our Savior to the lost and dying world around us.

If we will allow Him to supersede all else within us, we will indeed be conduits of His love and truth and power and faith and faithfulness to everyone within our sphere of influence. If we hope to hear those precious words, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant,” Matthew 25:21, that is precisely what we must be.