1 Cor 12:31 - 13:13 / Luke 7:31-35
As we set out into the world, there are many voices and many influences prompting us with directions.
These voices and influences are usually from famous and popular people.
They tell us and also show us how to be ambitious, to be successful, to be achievers, to be famous, to be popular, to be looked up by the world.
And so, to be looked up to by the world, we have to be like the world, because the world accepts its own kind.
In the first reading, St. Paul tells us to be ambitious, but it is to be ambitious for the higher gifts.
And he points us to the highest gift, which is love.
We may have eloquence, prophecy, understanding, faith and everything impressive and even impactful.
But without love, then we are nothing at all.
And when that love is from God, then there is nothing that the world can ever give us.
And there is nothing in this world that we would ever want to become.
Our ambition and our goal in life is not to become more like the world.
We are to become more like Jesus Christ, and when God’s love is in us, it will be possible.