Let me teach you the best way to take care of virtually every situation in your Christian life. Sometimes it is hard for those who profess to be Christians to behave like Christians. We try to carry our crosses, but if someone crosses us—we tend to lose our composure and behave in much the same way the rest of the world behaves. The Bible teaches that we are to be people who exercise love in all our relationships with other people. Study these words: “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love,” Ephesians 4:2. “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be Holy,” Hebrews 12:14.

To truly understand the importance of love in our lives we must focus on the ‘love chapter’ of the Bible: I Corinthians 13:1. In verse 1 we learn that love is more important than any spiritual gift. On the day of Pentecost, the apostles received the special gift of speaking in ‘tongues’—languages they had never learned. If you were so blessed that you speak with the greatest of eloquence in every language, but did not have love, then your life was as useless as the ridiculous act of pounding on a gong. In the first century gongs hung at the entrance of pagan temples. People hit them to awaken the pagan gods so the gods could hear their prayers. In verse 2 we learn that love is more important than knowledge: “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and knowledge, but have not love, I am nothing.” If you know it all, if you know everything, that is to know about nuclear science, medicine, philosophy, psychology and every other kind of ‘ology’ but have not love, then you are nothing at all. “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”

My weekly prayer is that the reader of this commentary becomes spiritually inspired of God. Contact Expressions of Faith at P.O. Box 330127, Nashville, Tenn. 37208. God bless!