The Last Thing

Arise, shine, for your light has come…And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Isaiah 60:1, 3

D.L. MOODY
Love must be active, just as light must shine. As someone has said: “A man may hoard up his money; he may bury his talents in a napkin; but there is one thing he cannot hoard up, and that is love.” You cannot bury it. It must flow out. It cannot feed upon itself; it must have an object.

ERWIN LUTZER
Isaiah was talking about God showering Israel with His glory and love, and the nations being drawn in as a result. God’s love for us, and our love for others can be a testimony to a watching world. Let me give you a parody of the famous love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13. “Though I sing in the choir, though I volunteer for Sunday school, though I am willing to be on the parking committee and thereby miss a Sunday morning church service, and though I volunteer for many projects, if I have not love, I am nothing.”
Paul writes, “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” Why is love the greatest? The day is going to come when our faith in Christ is going to be unnecessary because we will see Him. Hope is going to be unnecessary, because hope will be reality. But love will abide forever. Love is what God says is the more excellent way (1 Corinthians 12:31). Love is at the heart of it all.
Paul is talking about a supernatural kind of love that is contrary to our nature. That’s why it is so important to realize that love is the distinguishing mark of the church; it is unique, it is a gift from God.
May God rebuke us for our lack of love.

PRAYER
Father, help me to love others as you do. May others see Christ’s love in me.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS
Why must love be the foundation for our service in the church?

What is the most difficult thing for you to do out of love?