1 Corinthians 12-16: Seek the Giver Not the Gift

Paul writes to the church at Corinth about the gifts from the Holy Spirit that are used to build up the body:  wisdom, knowledge, faith, miracles, prophecy, discernment, speaking in tongues, interpretation, teaching, helping, healing, and administration.  No one has all of these gifts, he says, But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.(1 Cor. 12:18 NIV).  'Eagerly desire the greater gifts', Paul says, but and this is where it gets tough, the greatest gift is love.  None of the gifts, nothing that is done to advance the body of Christ, has any worth if it is done without love.
 
   Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
   Love 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. - 1 Cor. 13:4-8 NIV

Then after this wonderful description of love, one which has been used by many in the ceremony that unites two people in marriage, comes Paul's reminder of what it is all about.  'I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you,' he says, 'hold firmly to it,'  Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, - 1 Cor. 15:2-4 NIV

The gospel that Paul preached was not some mushy, lovey, feel good, gospel.  No it is the gospel of life and death.
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.
     “Where, O death, is your victory?
       Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. - 1 Cor. 15:54-58 NIV

You can desire the gifts, for they are tools to help in serving the Lord, but they should never stand in the way of loving the Lord, as Paul says, rather harshly, when he ends his first letter to the church at Corinth, If anyone does not love the Lord—a curse be on him. Come, O Lord!  (1 Cor. 16:22 NIV)  Or as Jesus said in Matthew, But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matt. 6:33 KJV)  You will receive all of these things:  the gifts, the faith, the hope, and the love, if you seek the giver not the gift.