Today's Devotional - January 26 & 27

[Chad]

Today's Devotional - January 26 & 27

Lessons of the 13s for 2013: Demonstrate Love in 2013 (1 Corinthians 13)

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13

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[TD]Recommended ReadingGalatians 5:6
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Do you have ministry plans for 2013? Perhaps you have an assignment to teach a Sunday school class, lead a Bible study, or head up a committee in your church. Or perhaps you sing in the choir or participate in a worship team. Or maybe your ministry is one of hospitality to those in your neighborhood, or caring for the less fortunate or homeless in an inner city or urban setting.

The apostle Paul described three kinds of ministries in 1 Corinthians 13 before issuing a qualifier for each. He wrote of using the gift of tongues, of speaking forth with the gift of prophecy, and caring for the poor through a ministry of benevolence (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). In each case, he said, those ministries count for nothing unless they are enveloped by the love of Christ. Ministries of service and leadership and caring benefit neither the giver nor the receiver if they are not carried out with agape, the God-kind of love -- sacrificial, uncaused, and unconditional.

Ask God to fill you with His kind of love every day in 2013 -- the kind of love that will ensure people know your service is from Christ Himself.

It is possible to be so active in the service of Christ as to forget to love Him.
P. T. Forsyth

Read-thru-the-Bible
Exodus 35-40