1 Corinthians 14:1 1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. NIV
They say that usually, the further one goes from a crime the more obvious it becomes as to who done it and how – one glaring exception to that is the Kennedy assassination. There are those who insist that it was a giant conspiracy; there are others who say we aren’t smart enough to keep that many secrets, and to have so many contingencies with someone knowing about it and someone blabbing. That’s kind of how I feel about the whole tongues thing in 1 Corinthians 14 – Paul seems to be emphasizing prophecy but many continue to emphasize tongues. And the further we get away from it the more confusing it seems.
There is nothing wrong with spiritual gifts; but Paul’s emphasis was prophecy. Prophecy is the gift of speaking out truth. Prophecy is fed by diligent and regular feeding upon (reading and applying) God’s word. Prophecy is speaking out of the overflow of what has been poured into the heart. People are going to be saved by hearing and knowing the truth. And Paul underscores this by saying, “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.” We don’t see people getting saved because of spiritual gifts, but because of love.
My approach to tongues is both guided and guarded. If you were to ask me if you should pray in tongues, I’d probably say, yes – but then I’d ask you, how are your daily times with the Lord – are you feasting and feeding upon His word? Are you speaking out truth? Are you loving on others? People get saved because they are loved and exposed lovingly to the truth.
Jesus said the greatest commandment is this: to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and the second one is this: to love our neighbor as our self. Tongues and prophecy find their purpose in those two statements…
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