Introduction
Love is unique. It is taught and encouraged by almost all the cultures on earth. It is emotional and passionate, yet Christ love is beyond the understanding of the world and the achievement of even the noblest heart. This kind of love is known as ‘agape love,’ which is required of every true Christian. It is more of what we do than say that depicts our true personality.

In this season of Christmas, God expects us to share his love and salvation among those around us. It should be more of what we give than what we take; more of how we touch others than how we are touched, more of how we make others look than how we look.

Caring For Others
Reading through 1Corinth. 12:12-27, Paul often times in his writing will use the human body to help illustrate truth about the Church. Members of the body of Christ may be different in nationalities or philosophies —Jews or Greeks, bond or free — but at conversion the Holy Spirit admits all into one body as belonging to Christ. Therefore, each member must consider himself or herself valuable to other members of the same body. Each member’s role may differ in position and schedule, some roles may be charming and appealing, while others may appear less attractive, but no role or function should be considered less important than others.

Every part of the body forms the entire part of the overall beauty. To have a healthy functioning of the whole part, every role of each part must be valued. Everyone should be treated as important irrespective of the size or position. The man occupying the front stage is as important as the man behind the scene whose duty it is to make the stage functional. Therefore, there must be mutual respect and honour of seemingly “lesser” members. The parts of our body that are not physically displayed are as important as those part that are visibly displayed by nature; as important as the heart is, nature hides it somewhere in the rib cage. This does not make the eye more or less important than heart; remember if the heart ceases to beat the entire body system shuts down. We are required to give attention both to the publicly displayed parts as well as the “hidden part” because neglecting either part could lead to unhealthy condition or the entire body.

Loving Sincerely (1Corinth. 13:1-7)
In the Corinthian Church, speaking in tongue was over emphasised just as some denominations place much emphasis on certain gifts; some on prophecy; others on faith, miracles, divine healing prosperity and material possession. Paul in his writing never suggested that love is a substitute for spiritual gifts or for good works. Rather, he contrasted actions done with love and actions done without love. Christ’s judgment for the world or Christians will be on the basis of sincere love and motives. The word ‘love’ has a variety of meaning, but to describe the kind of love that should govern relationship in the Church and motivate the operations of spiritual gifts. Paul used ‘agape’ kind of love. Verses 4-7 outlined the characteristics of agape kind of love.

Love Never Ends (1 Corinth 13:8-13)
Paul further taught the Corinthian brethren that the gifts of the spirit are important, but temporary. Love, however, is eternal. He stressed the point that one day these gifts will cease, because when our Saviour returns, there will no longer be the need for spiritual gifts. But as along that God exists, love will continue, for God is love (1 Jn 4:8). This therefore, makes love the greatest. Faith, hope and love will continue; they are virtues we all need in our pilgrimage, but the greatest of all these; is love. It is an eternal bond between God and the Church throughout eternity.
Let us, therefore, strive to discover our roles on earth and specifically in the body of Christ. In response to our roles, it must be done with love for God, for other believers and for ourselves.

Satisfying Brethren’s Need
Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one or another. 1Pet. 3:8.
There is never a perfect environment free of misunderstanding. People differ in culture, philosophies and world view. The early Church was no exception. The individual Christians came together bringing their various backgrounds with them into the Church, which caused problems within the community. The apostle as leaders of the Church, through the Holy Spirit dealt with the matters as they were given the grace and wisdom.

Touching The Needs Of The People (Acts 6:1-7)
The Church had problems from outsiders; but there were problems within the Church as well. The Grecian believers thought the distribution and sharing or the help was not done equally. The Grecians were Hellenists Jews born outside Palestine, who spoke Greek. Besides adopting the Greek language, they followed the culture of the land where they lived. Though Jews, they were seen as being different from the Hebrews; those born in Palestine, who spoke Hebrew and Aramaic were those who held strongly to the Jewish custom and traditions without compromise. Some considered others as lesser to the others and during the sharing of the welfare the Hellenists felt neglected as belonging to the minority; they felt their windows were neglected in the daily distribution of food.

Through the leading of the Holy Spirit the apostle were able to proffer a wise solution, rather than selecting the men that will help in the distribution they gave the community the opportunity of selecting the men by themselves, by this they solved half of the problem. This helped the Church to be spiritually healthy.

The Necessities Of Compassion (James 1:27, 1 Jn 3:17, 18)
This verse in James explains the kind of religion on which God looks with favour — “pure and undefiled religion.” Note: Christians are separated from the world. In this case ‘world’ means the world system organised and governed by Satan to resist God’s rule. If we are separated for God inside, there must be an outward manifestation of our religion in true concern for others in need. Reaching the needy is not the responsibility of the rich only, rather of every member of the Church as God has provided. We can individually touch our world and community in our little way. To him that much is given, much is required; to him that little is given, little is required. Living out our profession is living as representative of our confession. Good wishes are not substitute to help. Everyone must live as answers to someone’s prayer. Someone’s crumb may be someone else’s answer to supply. As you celebrate this season look more on the needs of those around you and make yourself an answer to somebody’s prayer.
• Ven Stephen Wolemonwu is Rector, Ibru International Ecumenical Centre, Agbarha-Otor