“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.” Are we just empty vessels, or are we vessels filled with love for God and each other?

Scripture reminds us that now abideth faith, hope and love, but that the greatest of these is love. Many of us profess to be faithful, and hopeful, but are we lovely? Faithfulness is between you and God, so is hope, but to be lovely involves loving ourselves and others. It is easier to love from the lip than from the heart, because loving from the heart makes us vulnerable and open to being hurt and deceived, but God says without love we are nothing. It’s no wonder that scripture encourages us to be kind to strangers, for if we are kind to strangers we expect nothing in return, and our reward will be greater in heaven, but many are reluctant to love or be kind to strangers because there is no earthly reward, but know that when we give from the heart to those we know and love, we expect to have it returned to us and we are most times disappointed. Why? Because true love is not puffed up, does not parade itself, nor seeks its own, and therefore, if loves is puffed up, paraded or self-seeking, it becomes nothing more than a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. Let us then pursue the things that make for peace and love and build up the common life. Amen!