Program Success Christian Reader September 2007 | Page 9

The Christian Reader September 2007 9
LOVE JONES
“When I was a child, I spoke as
a child. I understood as a child.
I though as a child; but when I
became a (adult) man, I put
away childish things. For now
we see in a mirror dimly, but
then face to face. Now I know in
part, but then I shall know just
as I also am known. And now
abide faith, hope, and love, but
the greatest of these is love.”
By Reverend Dr. Carlton Jones
Jacksonville, Florida
Text: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 “Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass
or a clanging cymbal. And 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, but have not love, I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give
my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”
“Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not
parade itself; it is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek
its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but
rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all
things, and endures all things.”
“Love never fails. Whether there are prophecies, they will fail.
Whether there are tongues, they will cease. Whether there is
knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy
in part. When that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part
will be done away.”
I do not know about you, but I
am struggling with church love.
We say we should love our
brothers and sisters, but some of our biggest hurt comes out of the
church. We say we love each other as Christ loves us. We say we know
what the Bible and dictionary says about love, but do we know what
our heart feels?
Rev. Dr. Carlton D. Jones
The word of God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We are
struggling in a world much like the world Paul was dealing with in the
Greek city of Corinth. Paul was dealing with hypocrites (people acting
or playing church), moral decadents, and division in the family of God,
pride and spiritual arrogance. He dealt with the goddess of love whose
temple employed 1,000 prostitute priestesses, lawsuits between
believers, troubled marriages, abuse of spiritual liberty, confusion of
gender roles (men thinking they were women, and women thinking
they were men), abuse of the Lord’s table, misuse of spiritual gifts and
neglect of church doctrine.
We live in a very similar world today, except back then it took weeks,
months, and sometimes years to hear about the sins that affect our
spiritual life. Today we have cell phones, ipod, computer, television,
and radios that give and spread moral decadents and bad news
instantly. We live in a world that does not show God’s kind of love. We
deal with child abuse, child pornography, children killing parents and
parents killing children, drive-by shootings sometimes for no apparent
reason but as initiation into a gang, we have husbands and wives
cheating on each other, we have no love in the work place, we have
workers killings their bosses, lovers, or just innocent by-standers. We
have Jews hating Muslims, Muslims hating Jews, we have Christians
hating Christians, we have so much jealousy, hate and envy…Where
is the love? Where is the love that Paul is talking about?
The English meaning of Love means so many things, that it means
nothing. We use the word love very loosely. We use it to describe the
desires of our heart. We use it to express the pleasures in the things we
like. We say things like, I love to play golf, or I love money, or I love
my house, or I love my car. All of these kinds of love can lead us down
a slippery slope because we do not want to love anything before we put
the love of God in our lives first. God is jealous God. He wants us to
know the meaning of love and that we must love Him first.
God gave us the greatest gift of love, His son Jesus who came from
heaven to save a wretch like me. There is not a better example of
See LOVE JONES page 10