Have you ever heard a slogan or impactful string of words which lose their luster over time? There seem to be a lot of these in our culture. Between marketing and the information highway expanding to all over the earth, it is hard to have a day without hearing one. So what happens when it stops being impactful? Someone dreams up a new one, and the process starts over again.

Here are a few examples:

**Where’s the beef?

**WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do)

**You deserve a break today.

**LOL (laugh out loud)

 

So what happens when the luster of a new catchphrase wears off?

Does it affect its potency?

Does it start to sound repetitive and noisy?

What happens to the meaning of words and actions when they are used as a slogan for an agenda?

1 Corinthians 13:1 (NIV)

1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

This verse speaks of doing things we think are important based on love. It also addresses the noise that comes when the purpose is forgotten. When your love mission moves from a place of real love sacrifice and morphs into an agenda, it is loud and clanky with no rhythm.

2 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 do not have love, I am nothing.

When our need for love is set aside for the wants of the world, we lose the ability to express it fully. Love is not a feeling or an emotion- it is a choice. When we work hard to move mountains and selfish ambition takes over, we become nothing. Therefore, some things in our lives become meaningless and unfulfilling. We lose sight of the basics, and we may not know what is missing.

When we fall out of sync with the plan of love laid out before us, we can always return and find the exact redemption, hope and security we are expected to offer. We can receive love from the One source, and provide love to the rest of our world.

3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing

Our acts of kindness and sacrifice do not go unnoticed, but when they are done for “credit” in some corner of our lives, they may as well have not been done at all. Love must lead our actions. It should be the driving force behind our outreach, our help, and our work.  This is how love becomes a verb instead of a feeling. It requires action on our part to be who we are called to be.

The instructions given concerning love are the most profound and direct we could ask for. These are written because we are imperfect. We need a guideline. We need rules. We are human, which makes us vulnerable. We are charged with the responsibility to love.