Love these lyrics

Just been listening to snippets of tracks from the new Phatfish album 'In Jesus' and while the musical arrangement isn't the sort of thing that usually gets my attention, the words of some of the tracks are just excellent. Especially this!

If I have not Love
I could build a mighty empire
Or be living on the streets
I could wear the finest jewellery
Or some coloured plastic beads
I could drive a rusty banger
Or a big olʼ SUV
I could entertain the down and out or dine with royalty
But if I have not love then I am just a clanging cymbal
And if I have not love then I am just a lot of noise
I must lay my pride aside, preferring others needs
O Lord help me to love
I could speak with words of beauty
But still have a heart of stone
I could fill my mind with wisdom
Try to deepen what I know
I could look as though Iʼm listening
Or could cry at my TV
But it really stands for nothing if itʼs only serving me
Jesus, Youʼre my great example
For You have shown your love to me
And in response I now must follow
In loving others faithfully
I canʼt take all my possessions
To the place that I am heading
But love stays, love remains, love paves the way

Lou Fellingham
©Phat Music/Administrated by Song Solutions CopyCare.14 Horsted Square, Uckfield, East Sussex, TN22 1QG. info@songsolutions.org.

¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. ¹²Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor. 13)

I think it is quite significant that I meditate on this. It is easy to carried away with the excitement of the Holy Spirit's giftings, but it is love that is the most important fruit, this is important to remember because the gift in which I am currently a little overly-interested, because it is a new experience for me, will eventually pass away when we see him face-to-face.