There was an old preacher who was sharing a message on love and how this world needs more of it. The next day he had had some concrete poured for the new sidewalk he was building and the concrete had not set yet. Some neighborhood kids decided they would play, so they took sticks and drew in the concrete and put their handprints and footprints in it. The preacher saw it and ran outside angrily. “Get out of here, kids!!” He had a horrible attitude and he went back in. His wife said, “Love, (no pun intended) I thought you preached a sermon on loving everybody yesterday! You didn’t show much love to those kids!” He said, “What I meant was I love people in the abstract, but I don’t love them in the concrete.”

That’s the problem with a lot of people. They say, “I love people in the abstract,” but when it comes down to loving people in the concrete where they really need to be loved, that’s where the evidence is lacking. 1 John 4 says, “God is love.” And Jesus said, “The clearest characteristic of a mature Christian is love.” It’s not scripture memory. It’s not church attendance. It’s not tithing. He said, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another.” So what does love have to do with it? It has everything to do with it! If you ever get to the point where you don’t feel like you need any more love, then that is evidence in itself you need a lot more love in your life. Out of all the characteristics that make you who you are, LOVE should be the greatest. Is it?

1 Corinthians 13:1-3. [Paul speaking] “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I have all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”