What would you do if, at the end of your life, you discovered that it all amounted to nothing?
If that’s too straining of a mental exercise, then think only of this year. Imagine, for a moment, that at the end of Term 4 (2024), your school teacher tells you that your efforts, though valiant, were misguided and therefore are worth nothing. On paper, you averaged a respectable grade, one that you and your peers could pat you on the back about. But in your teacher’s eyes, you failed. According to him, you wasted an entire year studying dense material, persevering through long weeks, enduring with your difficult classmates, etc. According to her, you’ll be resitting this year all over again. How would you feel?
You’d probably feel frustrated. You’d probably be wondering what the invisible, impossible criteria were that you had somehow missed, leading you to this abysmal ending. Was it really your fault if your teacher never told you that you weren’t on track?
Sadly, she did try to tell you that you weren’t on track. You were given ample warning. The rule was this: “During every class test, you are to wear red socks. Failure to wear red socks in any one of these tests will lead to a failed grade at the end of the year.” Evidently, neither you nor your classmates had been paying attention to that detail at the start of the year…
As far-fetched and ridiculous as the above situation might sound, such is the sad case with many professing Christians today. I’m not referring to the great disillusionment described in Matthew 7:21-23 where Christ condemns those who claimed to know Him, simply because He never knew them in a saving way. Instead, I’m referring to the great disillusionment described in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. Here, genuine Christians who are eagerly destined for heaven, upon meeting their God have their works tested by God’s “fire”, only to watch them burn up in the flames. Yes, such a person “shall be saved”, but he/she “shall suffer loss”. So, what qualifies a work as “gold, silver, [or] precious stones” (acceptable in God’s eyes)?
Consider the Apostle’s later words in the same epistle:
“Charity never faileth… And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity” (1 Cor 13:8, 13).
Surely, by obeying those commandments deemed the greatest by the Lord Jesus Christ will our works be approved.
“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matt 22:36-40).
What about our Christian witness? When does that count?
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:34-35).
What about my personal relationship with God?
“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love… And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:8, 16).
Which virtue does God want me to focus on growing in?
“And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;” (Phil 1:9).
Both our Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostles elevated love to a supreme position of importance. Summarising the entirety of God’s laws, we are commanded to love God and our neighbours. Summarising our testimony to a lost world, we are distinguished by our love (which is really an imitation of Christ’s love toward us). Summarising the character of God, we are told that He is love and that we, His children, must dwell in love. Summarising our sanctification, we are exhorted to be ever abounding in love, ie. we can never love enough.
Clearly, God’s criteria for us is that we love. This then begs the question: What is love? As our chief concern, our primary mission, our unique identifier and our God’s unchanging self-disclosure to us, we need to get this right. We need to not only understand, but also believe in the correct definition of love – the definition that God Himself supplies us with. We need to be able to recognise when we ourselves are truly loving God and others, and when we’re confusing something else for love. We need to be sensitive to when we’re “[dwelling] in love” and when we’re simply mistaken. I’m sure you can think of countless examples of where this question applies: How should I go about lovingly witnessing to my unbelieving friend? How should I lovingly serve alongside my brethren? How should I lovingly rebuke a sinning Christian? How should I lovingly submit to both likeable and difficult leaders in my family, my church or my school? In all of this we must ask ourselves: How does God want me to love? etc., etc.
As you can probably tell, it cannot be understated how important this camp’s theme is for each of us to wrap our heads around. So this year, we will look at the Apostle Paul’s line by line unveiling of love (termed “charity”) in 1 Corinthians 13. For the sake of our learning, let us lay aside all preconceived notions of what love is, humbly approach the pages of Scripture, and allow the Holy Spirit to reconstruct our understanding of Christ-like love, all so that we can better glorify our God. We trust that God will use these truths to equip you with the lens through which to evaluate both your own life, as well as the lives of men and women throughout Scripture, all in pursuit of “comprehending” and imitating the unending, immense and perfect love of our God which, the Bible says, “passeth knowledge, that [we] might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Eph 3:18-19).
“What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!”
– Bro Joshua Nah