How would you complete the following sentence?
”
My greatest aim in life is…
”
The way you finish that statement can tell you a lot about
yourself
– maybe even more than you want to know.
How would you complete the following sentence? “My greatest aim in life is…” The way you finish that statement can tell you a lot about yourself – maybe even more than you want to know.
All of us, whether we are aware of it or not, have an internal guidance system that dictates almost every decision we make. For example, consider the way most of us choose a career path. If my greatest aim in life is to attain wealth, I will likely choose a career that will maximize my earning potential. On the other hand, if I am motivated by comfort, I may simply choose to take (or keep) whatever employment comes easiest.
With a bit of thought, you can see how your dominant motivating influence impacts every area of your life. That’s why I thought we would do well to consider what God tells us to make our greatest aim in life. His answer is simple and direct: “Make love your greatest aim” (1 Corinthians 14:1).
Why, of all the options, would God tell us to make love our primary guiding principle? Because He knows the positive benefits we will enjoy when we do and the negative results when we don’t have love as our motivating force. Consider the wealth of insight we can glean from just three Bible verses (1 Corinthians 13:1-3):
First, without love, all that I say is ineffective. Verse 1 points out that even if I were the master of all languages, unless my words are motivated by love, they are meaningless: words without love are just noise. It is common today to hear people say, “We don’t communicate well in our home… my husband (wife, child, parent, etc.) just doesn’t hear what I’m trying to say.” Have you ever stopped to think that a large part of the communication problem might stem from not speaking in a loving manner to one another? People will usually respond positively to loving words, but they will resent and reject unloving words.
A second insight I gain from this passage is that when I am not operating from a loving perspective, not only is all I say ineffective, but all that I know is incomplete. I could have so much knowledge and so many degrees they call me Dr. Fahrenheit, but without love I am little more than an educated fool.
Furthermore, all that I believe is insufficient. As Paul says in the Corinthians passage, I could have a faith strong enough to move mountains, but without love that faith is of no value. There is a commonly held misconception that when one believes certain facts about Jesus he/she becomes a Christian. But the Bible teaches us that Christianity is not about accepting a list of facts, it’s about a trusting relationship with Jesus! As Galatians 5:6 points out, “…the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”
So when love is not my motivating principle, all I say is ineffective, all I know is incomplete and all I believe is insufficient. But God takes it even a step further, pointing out that even my actions are of no value unless motivated by love. He uses the example of giving. Do people sometimes make donations to charity with the wrong motives? Are we sometimes motivated to give because we think it will increase our prestige or somehow assuage our feelings of guilt?
A husband once told me, “I bought my wife everything she wanted and she’s still divorcing me!” I wasn’t surprised. As those great theologians, The Beatles, once said, “Money can’t buy you love.” Verse 3 sums it all up: “No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.” This is why Paul, in Colossians 3:14, tells us: “Most of all, let love guide your life…”
Henry Harris is Senior Pastor of Rolling Hills Community Church in Hollister. Your questions and comments are appreciated. Write him in care of the church at 330 Tres Pinos Road, Hollister 95023, e-mail him at [email protected] or call 636-5353.
