“I am bankrupt without love,” The Message translation states in 1 Corinthians 13. “If I do not have love, I gain nothing,” the ESV says. But what will love profit me if I obey God’s directive to “follow after charity” (KJV) or “eagerly pursue and seek to acquire [this] love [make it (my) aim, (my) great quest]?” (AMPC)

Today I inquired of THE textbook on love, the Holy Bible, seeking increase to my life in God in the way of walking out agape love, the fruit that comes from remaining vitally united to the Vine, the Lord. As I have been drawing closer to Yeshua’s heart, I am ever experiencing a deeper connection to Him and revelatory insights into Holy Writ.

Let me share some verses on love in Matthew 5 from the JB Phillips translation. First, though, let’s read from 1 Corinthians 13:1-3:

If I speak with the eloquence of men and of angels, but have no love, I become no more than blaring brass or crashing cymbal. If I have the gift of foretelling the future and hold in my mind not only all human knowledge but the very secrets of God, and if I also have that absolute faith which can move mountains, but have no love, I amount to nothing at all. If I dispose of all that I possess, yes, even if I give my own body to be burned, but have no love, I achieve precisely nothing. 

Clearly, allowing God’s agape love to flow from within our hearts out to others is of paramount importance to God. Clearly, love is the sine qua non for us.