|
|
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
1 Corinthians 13: 1--3, The Motivation of Love
In our little community, "drum lines" are very good.
You know what I'm talking about. The part of a marching band that focuses exclusively on percussion. They have the big bass drums, sets with harnesses called "quads," cymbals and even xylophones. While they're an integral part of the marching band at each area school, they're also their own "team."
They work over the summer when none of the other band members are working.
They get their earlier.
They stay later.
They work on flashy moves that impress the crowd.
They have their own time during the halftime show.
They work on the music.
They work on the show.
They work. So hard that one of them consistently wins national championships...which pushes the others to compete and there isn't much difference in them.
And part of that work involves making lots of racket.
See, when they're in the parking lot of the school when none of the other band members are working, they're often drumming together to get symmetry.
The drum earlier.
The drum later.
A lot of that flash and dash comes from cymbals spinning around and then crashing together.
The halftime show involves hitting the rims of the drums to make this clicking sound.
Their part of the music involves deep bass stuff and keeping cadence and all that kind of stuff.
Their show is loud enough to be heard in stadiums, sometimes with 20,000 people in them.
That's what the real estate agents don't tell prospective buyers of homes in the neighborhood that is closest to the practice lot of the drum line. You hear lots of drums beating in that neighborhood, I'd imagine. In the words of Dr. Suess, "Oh the noise, noise, NOISE, NOISE!!!"
And that's what God's word says that good works done without the proper motivation are: Noise, Noise, NOISE, NOISE!
From 1 Corinthians 13: 1--3 (NASB): "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and I know all all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith so as so remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing."
If we have our spiritual gifts going at full force, and aren't showing love: Drum line practice at 5:30AM next door.
If I know everything there is to know about God's plan: Drum line practice at 5:30AM next door.
If I have enough faith, but don't have love: Drum line practice at 5:30AM next door.
If I serve mankind with everything I have, but don't have love: Drum line practice at 5:30AM next door.
Yesterday we learned that LOVE is the highest order of the Christian.
Today, we see that unless we choose to make LOVE the highest order, even the best of our works are NOISE. Worth nothing and profiting nothing.
Obviously, the converse is true, too.
Just like the marching bands get the reward of their hard work on Friday nights as they entertain thousands with excellence and win awards and give our community pride...
good works done with love are worth something, have meaning, and give glory to God.
So, for today, how do you know the difference between a good work done in love and one done for personal reasons other than that?
Brent 4:33 AM
|