The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

1 Corinthians 13:1-2, “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,

but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

2 And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge;

and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.”

First Corinthians 13 is commonly called “the love chapter” of the Bible. Although the

apostle speaks of spiritual gifts, his emphasis throughout the chapter is love. Prophecy

basically means preaching; mysteries are truths that the LORD reveals through His

Word; and knowledge is insight and understanding of things beyond the ordinary. But

all of this is meaningless unless we have a heart and attitude of love. A preacher,

for example, may give astounding truths the congregation has never known, but if he

does it harshly and arrogantly without love, the LORD counts is as worthless. Love

(????? agape) is nowhere found in heathen literature. It is distinctly Christian!

Dr. G. Campbell Morgan cites love as the essential attribute underlying each of the

other gifts. Joy is identified as “the consciousness of love”; peace, as “the

confidence of love”; longsuffering, as “the habit of love”; gentleness, as “the activity

of love”; goodness as “the quality of love”; faith as “the quantity of love”; meekness as

“the tone of love”; and self-control as “the victory of love.”[1] What a life to know and live!

And all of this is His gift to us, if we yield daily to the Holy Spirit’s control!

We agape each and every one of you,

Nana & Dado III

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”

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[1]G. Campbell Morgan, The Westminister Pulpit (London: Pickering and Inglis, Ltd., n.d.), pp. 171-179.