EXPOSITION:
In His dealings with humankind, God exhibited great love to draw a distraught and a lost human race to Himself. He did not save the world by performing some great miracles, like He did in Egypt when delivering the Israelites. Also, He did not put to death the enemies or oppressors like He led Joshua to fight and possess the Promised Land. However, He chose to sacrifice His only Son. This is an exceptional kind of love. It is this kind of love that He expects His children to emulate.
In our Scripture Reading for today, love is compared with some great gifts that lots of Christians yearn for. Many Christians desire to operate in the prophetic and the miraculous. Sometimes, the reason we long for these is to make a public show. Here, the Scripture admonishes us to love or better still do these out of love.
The God-kind of love transcends every gift we may crave for. In this generation, just like in time past people will go every length just to receive their miracle. However, what God expects from us is to express our love to Him then to our neighbours. Love is what perfects the gifts, therefore it is described as ‘the more excellent way’. It should be pursued by all in our bid to serve God and do His work. If the love of God demonstrated in the death of Jesus could save the world then we can certainly possess the nations with the love of Jesus.