“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.” One might speak with the eloquence of Apollos, moving multitudes by silvery-tongued oratory, or were it possible, hold thousands spell-bound with the voice of an angel, but if love be wanting it would avail nothing.

        “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, and have not love, I am nothing.” So, one might possess the most coveted gift (14:1) and be able to elucidate all mysteries, profound in knowledge and unsurpassed in faith, but if love is not in activity, all is unavailing—“I am nothing.”

        “Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profits me nothing.” Philanthropy might lead one to the extreme of giving up all one possessed to the poor. I might be so valiant for truth and righteousness as to be ready to go to the stake for my opinions, but if destitute of divine love, all would profit nothing.

                Love, divine love, product of the divine nature:Suffers long, is kind, envies not, vaunts not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil, rejoices not in iniquity but in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

These are blessed qualities indeed! First, self is renounced. Love leads one to be tender, kind, considerate, and ready to serve our fellow-saints according to the example of the One who, in love, stooped to wash His disciples’ feet.

        The heart, in love, is free from supposing evil. As “partakers of the divine nature” the lovely things and things of good report occupy the heart, and love “covers the multitude of sins.”

        Love leads us to bear with one another, remembering our own weaknesses and putting the best construction on the acts and words of our fellow-saints. If the thoughtlessness of another causes pain, and one is misjudged or misunderstood, love endures all things.

        So, says the apostle, “Love never fails.” All else, however excellent, must pass away, belonging to the scene and circumstances in which we are found, while waiting for our Lord’s return.

         “And now abides faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

 (From Help and Food, Vol. 40.)