The Most Important Thing

You want your grandchildren to do great things. You want to sit in the bleachers and watch them sink the buzzer beater, hit the walk-off homer, and stick the landing. You want them to graduate with honors and land a great job. That’s your dream for them, right?

Even better, you want them to speak eloquently on spiritual mat­ters, grasp the mysteries of God, possess faith that moves mountains, and be sacrificially generous on behalf of the less fortunate. Those are all character traits described in the first three verses of 1 Corinthians 13.

Reviewing that passage through until the final word, you can’t miss the fact that—as wonderful as those character traits are—they don’t have any value or meaning without love. Without love, each of us gains “nothing.” We have nothing. We impact nothing. Our lives are nothing.

That’s actually a bit frightening.

At our age, we can all look back and tick off a nice, long list of accomplishments. Why did we do those things? Was it for profit or personal glory, out of fear or curiosity, because our parents told us to, or because someone double-dog-dared us?

Remember, anything we do without love means nothing.

Makes you think, doesn’t it? We absolutely want our grandchil­dren to set goals, take risks, work hard, solve problems, and make a difference. But, first and foremost, we want them to love.

By the way, what is love, anyway? Keep reading. We’re digging deeper in the next few devotions.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Over your own life, I have a sense you’ve enjoyed some proud moments and checked off a lot of boxes. You may have received awards in elementary school for perfect attendance, sportsmanship, or being the classroom helper. You received a high school diploma, earned a degree, or a certification. You can recall your first paycheck, bonus, or promotion. At church, you volunteer and give sacrificially. Among friends, you’re always there when they need a helping hand or a listening ear. With your family, you show up and want to be the best grandparent you can be. For your grandkids, well, you would do anything!

Was it—is it—all done with love?