Today's Thought - Relationship

Galatians 5:6 – “For in Christ Jesus … only faith working through love [counts].”

Leonard Syme, a professor of epidemiology at the University of California at Berkeley, indicates the importance of social ties and social support systems in relationship to mortality and disease rates. He points to Japan as being number one in the world with respect to health and then discusses the close social, cultural, and traditional ties in that country as the reason. He believes that the more social ties, the better the health and the lower the death rate. Conversely, he indicates that the more isolated the person, the poorer the health and the higher the death rate. Social ties are good preventative medicine for physical problems and for mental-emotional-behavior problems. (Source: Martin & Diedre Bobgan, How To Counsel From Scripture. Moody Press, 1985, p. 18). 

If you don’t live a life of love, then nothing you say will matter, nothing you know will matter, nothing you believe will matter, and nothing you give will matter. The Bible also says in 1 Corinthians 13:3, “No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love” (The Message). You can rack up an incredible list of personal achievements. You can get your picture on the cover of Time’s magazine. You can win the Gold metal. You can have enormous accomplishments, be entrepreneur of the year, build a billion-dollar company, and have incredibly great successes in your field of endeavor. But it isn’t worth much if you don’t love. If you don’t have relationship built on love. 

Life is about relationships, not accomplishments. It’s as simple as this: You can have the eloquence of an orator, the knowledge of a genius, the faith of a miracle worker, the generosity of a philanthropist, or the achievements of an Olympian, but if you don’t have love in your heart, it is worth zero. It doesn’t count. The only thing that matters to God is this: Do you love him, and do you love other people?

That’s why Paul teaches us that what matters most is our faith being expressed through love (see Galatians 5:6).

Have a blessed day!