The winning gift is love
Martha Olawale
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” 1 John 5:4
All godly principles are rooted in God’s love because to live for Him, we must love as He does. For instance, you can’t affirm righteousness without love, nor can you affirm faith without it. All must be rooted in the foundation of who God is, and God is love.
There’s no spiritual gift greater than growing in the love of God. It must be the motivator for everything we do for the Kingdom. We are born to love, and as we put off our old selfish nature, we become more like Christ. 1 John 4:7-8 says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
As visually driven beings, we are easily swayed by grandeur, with charisma trumping integrity and physical strength outweighing humility. Yet the Bible says we are nothing without love. Every gift you can think of, put together, amounts to nothing without it. Until we realize that, we will keep running in circles, trying to do more with our power instead of living more in love.
You can have the gift to heal a million people, but the one who loves another in obedience to God possesses the greatest gift. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 says, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. (2) And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. (3) And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”
To live in obedience, we must walk in God's love so that people can see Him in us every day. Yes, we may miss it now and then, but Psalm 136:1 says, “God's love never fails.” It hasn’t abandoned us, despite our many shortcomings, and never will. His love has the power to restore and sustain us. In this assurance alone, we can find rest and offer hope to a broken world.
