I Corinthians 13:8 NKJV
Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
I Corinthians 13:8 NKJV
Paul spoke to the Corinthians and showed them that they are more excellent ways than just moving in the gifts.
Paul showed the believers the process of growth in Christ. Every gift is very important in the body of Christ but it has to be held together by God, who is LOVE.
Every spiritual gift will function and manifest the glory of God but only LOVE will retain, maintain and expand that manifestation.
Love is a characteristic of God that allows for the gifts to have their full effect. We grow in love and the gifts of God becomes more effective as we grow in God's love.
Paul explains that when we grow as a child we speak as a child, we learn as a child and do things as a child but when we grow older we put away childish things and learn to speak and do things like an adult.
Paul talked about earnestly desiring the best gifts. What would be the best gifts? I believe Paul wanted to send the message to all believers that God in us is the best gift that mankind can ever have.
Cultivating God's image and His likeness in us will cause all the gifts to take full effect in and through our lives.
We can minister the gifts without love but love cannot stop the flow of gifts in our lives.
God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. That love still holds every believer as sanctified, set apart, holy, blameless today and will hold every believer forever.
As we grow in the Lord we uphold the more excellent things above the gifts and callings.
We uphold Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The reason Paul shared this is because there are differences that cause disunity in the body of believers.
What was supposed to unite them has started to divide them because their eyes have gone from fixing on the Lord to looking unto the gifts.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus Christ, our Father and God the Holy Spirit.
Let us hold Him above all else and flow as He leads.
Blessings
Ambrose Francis