Is it too simplistic to say that God cares less about the “what” and more about the “how”? That while we can do tons of great stuff . . . get all of our “to do’s” done . . . work this . . . serve there . . . accomplish that . . . that, at the end of the day, it will be less about what we did for the kingdom and more about how we did what we did for the King? I’m thinkin’ . . .

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.   (1Corinthians 13:1-3 ESV)

You hover over these verses for just a few minutes and maybe you ask yourself, “Really?!? Talking like the angels . . . understanding the deep, deep things of God . . . faith beyond faith, even to the moving of mountains . . . tithing everything . . . putting my very body on the line . . . but, if I have not love, it’s empty noise . . . I gain nothing . . . nothing is accomplished? Really?

Is it really such an all or nothing proposition? Can so much good “what” count for so little if not done with the right “how” — with love?

I guess it comes down to whether or not we take God at His word and believe the Word. If I do, then to desire living in love as defined here has got to be one of my greatest pursuits. To want to “grow up” and put away childish understanding and childish motivations and childish thinking and other childish things needs to be a driving force in my life.

And I can’t help but think that the church is an important part of figuring out the “how”. That’s the context for this portion of Scripture — it’s about how we be the body of Christ. 1Corinthians 12 is about the gifting in the church and the relationship of body members to each other. 1Corinthians 14 is about the use of that gifting in the church to build up the body. And, smack dab in the middle of all this “what” is 1Corinthians 13 describing the “how”.

I learn to love in the body of Christ. My “training ground” for developing the “how” is with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

It’s there that I learn to be patient and kind . . . and where I practice putting down the natural man’s desire to be envious . . . or boastful . . . or arrogant . . . or rude. By God’s grace, and through the enabling of the Spirit, it is in the day-in-day-out rubbing of shoulders with other less-than-perfect trophies of grace that I learn not to insist on “my way or the highway” . . . and I work on saying no to irritability or resentfulness with others. It is with God’s called out special treasure that I am transformed from being attracted to wrongdoing and, instead, rejoicing in truth. It’s with the people of God where I learn to bear all things . . . believe all things . . . hope all things . . . endure all things. It’s through God shining in the face of brothers and sisters in Christ that I internalize that “love never ends.”

As part of the body of Christ I abide in faith, hope, love — but the greatest of these is love.

You gotta love the church! God does. And I think it’s in the church where we can learn to love . . . where we can learn the “how.”

Simplistic? Maybe. Truth? Definitely. All for God’s glory? Absolutely!