The Gift of the Spirit Called "Love"

By Warren Lewis

[Page 8]

Let me show you the way of spiritual maturity:
Even if I can preach better sermons than anyone else,
  or talk in tongues like angels,
    But have no compassion,
      I am worth no more than a taxi horn or a trolley bell.
Even if I can predict the future, 
  or if I have the finest theological education,
    or if I have all the doctrines down just right,
      and even if I have the kind of faith that says it has no doubts,
But if I have no compassion,
  I am a zero.
Even if I contribute to every fund and every good cause,
  or if I double or triple tithe or more,
    and even if I am a religious fanatic with total commitment,
      But have no compassion, 
         God has no use for me.
This kind of God-like compassion can take almost anything. 
  It calculates the good of the one it loves. 
    It does not insist on its own opinions or point of view.
      Christian compassion has good manners;
         it doesn't laugh too loud or talk too much; 
           it isn't hypercritical or caustic or grouchy; 
             it doesn't laugh when other people make fools of themselves; 
                But it is glad for the good that is in everyone.
God-like compassion is eternal: 
  it will prevail when all else fails; 
    it accepts whatever you tell it; 
      it hopes whatever you hope;
        it accepts you whatever you are. 
Spirit-given compassion is always the attitude to take.
  Prophecies are finally fulfilled; 
    After awhile one grows out of the stage where tongue-speaking is necessary; 

      Knowledge is replaced daily with new insight and new truth, 
        for we never know all we can or ought to know, 
          and there is always some question as to the future of a prophecy.
Thus, when whatever is better comes along, 
   whatever is not so good gives way. 

For example: 
   As a child, I talked and reasoned and reacted as a child. 
   But now, I am an adult.

I have grown out of my childish ways of speaking, feeling, and thinking!
   As men in the human condition,
   it is as though we are looking into a crazy mirror at the carnival.

But the day will come, I know, when we will see Reality as He really is. 
   Just now we can apprehend Truth only partially and subjectively. 

But Someday, we will share the divine perspective 
   and we will know God then as well as He knows us now.

So then commitment, confidence, and compassion are the three best gifts of the Spirit, 
   but the best of the three is compassion.

Therefore, whatever other gifts of the Spirit you may have, 
   be compassionate!