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Day 325 or November the 21st. Are you all sound

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and no substance? Our thoughts today come from

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1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 1. If I speak

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in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not

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have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging

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cymbal. And now the big picture surrounding this

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verse. Paul gives some sound teaching on body

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ministry, stressing that we are all different,

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like parts of the human body, but we are all

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essential and uniquely gifted. Part of many pagan

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rituals around the world is making strange noises

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and speaking in an unintelligible way that others

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cannot understand. With this background, many

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of the Corinthian believers coveted the spiritual

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gift of speaking in tongues and saw it as a sign

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of spiritual one-upmanship. Paul makes his disagreement

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with them very clear and also takes the opportunity

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to teach about spiritual gifts in general. In

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the midst of all this, he takes a whole chapter

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to extol the virtues of love. This reading has

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become an integral part of millions of wedding

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services over the centuries. And now today's

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action step. Paul explains a major pitfall to

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be avoided by all Christians. Never be someone

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who is all sound and no substance. Without godly

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love, that's all we are. As believers, it is

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better to be quiet and show love than to be noisy

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and do nothing. As someone whose life has included

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speaking many words, this is something for me,

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and probably for all preachers and parents and

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children, probably everyone. We need to show

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love, which Paul describes as patient, kind,

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not jealous or boastful, or proud or rude, never

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demanding its own way, never being irritable,

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keeping no record of being wronged. Never rejoicing

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about injustice, but rejoicing whenever the truth

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wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith,

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is always hopeful, and endures through every

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circumstance. Love will last forever. This is

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a mere daydream and totally impossible without

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God's help and empowering Holy Spirit. So stop

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just trying and start Jesus trusting.