If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If 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. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When 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. Now 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.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (I Corinthians 13)
Christianity is about love and service: it is through love and service that one spreads the Kingdom of God.
Does the Kingdom of God spread by force? No! Force is the antithesis of love. You don't force someone you love to do anything: witness how God doesn't force us humans to do anything.
Does the Kingdom of God spread by shouting? NO! The Kingdom of God spreads by LOVING. Do you shout at those you love? Love is patient, kind, does not boast. It always protects, trusts, hopes, perserveres. We are to spread the Kingdom not with our voices -- tongues will be stilled -- but with our actions: through service in love.
Do we spread the Kingdom of God through protests? Through handing out Bibles to people who don't want them? Through knocking on unwelcoming doors? Through legislation? No! We spread the Kingdom through love, through service, through knocking on hearts, through sacrifice
THIS is the Kingdom of God: loving each other, serving each other, sacrificing for each other; loving our friends, serving our friends, sacrificing for our friends; loving our enemies, serving our enemies, sacrificing for our enemies.
It is not laws; it is not words; it is neither knowledge nor prophecy. It is loving and laying down our lives for everyone.