photo #6955673

Today’s devotion is the start of a series on 1 Corinthians 13, the chapter of Love! ❤️ Love: What Is It? I am glad that God did not leave us without an answer to this question. He gave us a living example of what the word is in the life and death of His only begotten Son Jesus. He gave us an entire chapter in the Bible explaining to His people what love is. That chapter is 1 Corinthians 13. Over the next several days I hope we can look further into this chapter in detail. Today we will begin this series of devotions with accessing the word “charity”. The word “charity” is mentioned nine times in the chapter. The word is first mentioned in the Bible in 1 Corinthians 8:1, and the second time in 1 Corinthians 13:1 - “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.” The word “charity” is the word “agape” in the Greek form and is more often translated in the King James Bible as the word love. I do believe the translators were spot on when they translated it in our text as “charity”. The word “charity” means love but love that is of the giving kind, benevolent, good will, and affectionate. We will see as we further look at the word’s explanation in this chapter that “charity” has less to do with self but a lot of how we treat others. When we think of the word “charity” we must think of it as an action verb and not a noun. As something we do for others and not something we sit on. This truth is easily seen in John 3:16 - “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”