Last week, in my post Just a Thought: The True Meaning of Love, I shared how taking care of my grandmothers taught me the true meaning of love. I used 1 Corinthians 13 as my scriptural focus, but the thing about the Bible is that it’s filled with so much it’s impossible to unearth everything in one sitting.
I’ve been studying 1 Corinthians 13 for a while now. I’ve found myself gravitating to it a lot these past few years. I’ve even declared it my “life passage.” So much of my journey and so many of my lessons have been encapsulated in that one chapter. God has worked a lot in my life on this particular area: loving people. And through it all He’s taught me so much about love, is still teaching me. Because love is something we continually work on. It doesn’t come easy for us.
I feel led to share some of those lessons and insights with you, so today marks a series studying 1 Corinthians 13. I don’t know exactly how long this will last. It depends on the direction I feel the Lord nudging me. For now, I’m thinking a 13-post series, one for each verse in the chapter, but I may find myself spending a couple weeks on one verse or combining two verses into one post. Each week, I’ll include the link to any previous posts so you can catch up if you missed one. At the end of each post, I’ll include a challenge for the next week.
And now, today, I’ll begin with the first verse of 1 Corinthians 13, aka “the love chapter.”
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. – 1 Corinthians 13:1
It’s not enough to speak well. If we speak without love and without spreading the love and joy of Christ, we are simply making noise. We should speak with kindness and truth, not with anger or lies. We have to be very careful with our tongue or it will get us in trouble. How often do we speak without thinking? How often do we wish we could take something back?
Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” To show love through our speech, we need to be encouraging instead of disparaging. Correcting someone out of compassion is different from chastising them out of superiority. Constructive criticism is meant to build someone up. If you must criticize, make sure you’re doing it out of love and not just to make yourself feel better. We must be careful what we say, especially in anger. Colossians 3:8 says to “put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.” That includes cussing, rude words, anything that’s meant to harm someone. And Colossians 3:9 even specifically warns about lying.
So it seems our words are important, especially since James 1:26 says to bridle our tongue. In fact, James 1:26 says if we do not bridle our tongue, we deceive ourselves.
Now I’ll be the first to admit that I’m guilty of thinking before I speak and saying something awful to someone. Especially when I’m in a foul mood. But that doesn’t show the love of Christ. Lying doesn’t show the love of Christ. Gossiping doesn’t show the love of Christ. Complaining doesn’t show the love of Christ.
All of these are things I struggle with. But as I said in last week’s post, I’ve learned that love is a decision I have to make daily. So I have to decide each day to work on bridling my tongue. I have to decide to speak with charity. Because just saying “I love you” isn’t enough. Saying “Jesus loves you” means nothing if we don’t show them that love. (For more on this, check out my post Just a Thought: Who Do You Say Jesus Is?)
And showing that love includes being kind to one another. Telling the truth. Being respectful. All things we can accomplish by bridling our tongue. And, as with everything, we need help to do that. So we pray and we study the Word. In fact, to emulate a Christ-like love, all we have to do is look at Jesus. How did He speak to people? He came to teach, and His words were meant to build people up, not to make them feel better about themselves but to help them grow and learn. Even in John 4 when He spoke to the woman at the well, He wasn’t berating her for her life. He spoke kindly but honestly. So let’s try to follow His example. Let’s speak with His love.
If you would like to study more on what the Bible says about watching our tongues, you can grab a printable with several verses I found while studying for this post. You can also download a seven-day reading plan.
This week’s challenge: Ask God to help you bridle your tongue. If you find yourself becoming angry, take a deep breath and ask the Lord to help you control your tongue.
If you’re like me, and you need something to remind you, I have three phone wallpapers you can download. That way, every time you look at your phone, you’re reminded of the verse and your challenge. I’ve included them at the end of this post.
If you have anything you want to add or just a general comment, let me know below. Or connect with me on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. I’d love to know your thoughts, and if you’re working on the challenge, I would love to know how it’s going.
