Resounding Gong

The Bible says, ‘If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal’ (1 Corinthians 13:1).

When I read this, I visualise a big heavy metal bell, like those commonly found in church bell towers, swinging back and forth as it rings out loudly. In the UK, we have the famous ‘Elizabeth Tower’, which is known as ‘Big Ben’. It contains ‘The Great Clock’ with five bells that ring out extremely loudly as they chime every hour. Major restoration work of the tower had to take place in 2017, and they had to silence the clock to protect the hearing of the workmen.

A clanging gong is very annoying to those who are nearby. And no matter how godly we are, without the element of love, anything we do or say would be like a resounding gong and would cause damage to those around us.

Paul puts it bluntly in his letter to the Corinthians: ‘If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing’ (1 Corinthians 13:2-3). So, it doesn’t matter how much we display or manifest the power of God in us, without love we are nothing. That’s sobering and humbling.

The Bible encourages us to genuinely love each other, because it’s only through how we love one another that people will know we are disciples of Jesus Christ. God is love and, when we love others, we reflect God.

We should be pursuing love. Love makes everything else make sense. People will listen to what we are saying because of love. Without love we are just noisy gongs and people cannot respond to our message. And in the final hours before Jesus went to die on the cross, He gave a new commandment to His disciples, to love each other, just as He loved them.

It’s God’s heart for us to exhibit patience and kindness, not to be jealous, boastful, proud, rude, or demand our own way. He doesn’t want us to be irritable, keep a record of being wronged, rejoice about injustice, give up, or lose faith. Love is always hopeful and rejoices with the truth not evil.

Love helps us endure through every circumstance. Love is a powerful weapon. Let’s prove to the world that we are Jesus’ disciples. Let everything we do bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. ‘Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins’ (1 Peter 4:8).