Speaking Out of Love
March 8, 2022
Do you speak out of love or just speak to hear yourself? Have you ever heard of the Blarney Stone in Ireland? The Blarney Stone is a stone located high up in Blarney Castle. Legend says, if one kisses the stone, he/she is said said to be endowed with the gift of persuasiveness (or as one person said, “the gift of gab”). To kiss the stone, one has to climb high up in the castle, sit on the edge of the wall, lean backwards. As you’re leaning backwards, you must grab onto an iron railing that has been attached to the wall. Then finally, when the individual is roughly horizontal, he/she can kiss the stone. There are many legends surrounding this stone . . . all of them include someone talking their way out of a situation.
What does all of this have to do with the verse above though? Everything! Our world is full of people who speak with exceptional eloquence. I have heard it said of an individual that he/she could use the most words ever used to say absolutely nothing in all. Case in point, look at many of our politicians. They tend to say a lot without saying anything of substance instead of saying something in a few words and taking responsibility for them.
Regardless, the verse above starts with Paul saying if he spoke “with tongues of men and of angels . . .”. Here he is commenting on the fact that within the body of Christ, there are many who have been given the gift of speaking, some with other languages and some with divine oracles. There are people in the church at Corinth who were considering themselves “super saints.” They were individuals who claimed to have seen tremendous numbers of people to have come to faith in Christ. They had the ability to speak about the Word of God with excellence. These individuals used their gifts of speaking to boast about what he/she had done, rather than for loving the individuals to whom they were speaking.
Jesus, when He came to this earth, came out of a love for the humans He created. When He spoke, it was out of love for His children . . . even though there were times He spoke angrily. However, even in anger, Jesus’ words were words spoken out of love. Some people received it – some did not. Yet, those who were genuinely wanting to know Jesus not only heard His words, but they also received them and trusted Him as well. When someone speaks falsely or pompously, people will eventually see through and recognize the kind of person he/she is. This person will become annoying. Therefore, we should all ask ourselves, am I speaking out of love, or am I merely speaking to hear myself?
