Not Just What? but Why? Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: Not Just What? but Why? ----------------------------------- Date: 8/11/2000 Keywords: "love" "motives" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Today, we continue our exploration of the importance of love as we move through 1 Corinthians 13. Passage: 1 Corinthians 13:1-8a* 1. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2. And if I have {the gift of} prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3. And if I give all my possessions to feed {the poor,} and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. 4. Love is patient, love is kind, {and} is not jealous; love does not brag {and} is not arrogant, 5. does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong {suffered,} 6. does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7. bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8. Love never fails; Questions 1. Pay special attention to verse 3, above. What good thing is "unprofitable" if it is done without love?   2. Does this surprise you? Doesn't it seem that the person who is doing the things mentioned in verse 3 is being loving, by definition? Evidently, performing acts of benevolence is possible without being motivated by love. Can you picture someone being motivated by something other than the best interests of someone else as they do them a "favor"?   Practical help 1 Corinthians 13:3 is tricky because it deals (meddles?) with the arena of motivation. The issue that needs to be determined on the way to assigning value to an act is what prompted you (or me) to perform the act in question. The question becomes not whether or not you give someone your possessions, or whether or not you give someone food, but why you have done so. This is an important issue because many of us are very good at rationalization. Many who are trapped in porn's net explain their habit as "enjoying God's handiwork" or "delighting in the beauty of the human body." Well, each one must judge his or her own motives, but 1 Corinthians 13:3 affirms that if an act is performed without the motivating dynamic of love behind it, that act is profitless. Can you honestly say that by viewing someone in a sexual situation on the Internet, you are seeking the best for that person? Can you say, honestly, that you are loving your spouse, your son or daughter, your friends by your involvement with pornography? Many men will admit that their use of porn has more to do with self-gratification than with bringing blessing to others. If that is where you are, and you are willing to admit it — congratulations! You have courageously faced the truth about your behavior. Now, use the courage and strength available to you through Jesus Christ and turn that urge for self-gratification into love for the people around you! eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2000 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."