The Greatest of These

Today’s blog post is contributed by David Trotta:

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (I Corinthians 13:13)

Why did Paul say, “but the greatest of these is love?”  Simple.  Because, on God’s scale of importance, it’s at the top all by itself.

And God didn’t just give lip service to it.  He put His money where His mouth is.  He walked the talk.

The bible makes it point to say “God is love” (I John 4:8).  God’s character is to love.  It’s woven into His DNA.  Why do you think Jesus left the glory of heaven to come to earth?  Yep, all because of love.

Love is what moves God to act.  Love is what paved a way for us to receive God’s grace and forgiveness.  Love is why while hanging on the cross Jesus said, “Lord forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Faith and hope are critical to the life of a Christ follower here on earth, but love trumps them both.  When we love, we put the character of God on display. Love causes us to be more like the Father.

Love also prepares us for heaven.  It’s the language of heaven.

When we get to heaven, we won’t need faith, hope, or the gifts of the spirit, but we will still need love.  The other things will cease, but love will never fail (fade or end).

So if the greatest is love, shouldn’t our focus be on growing in love?  But yet so often, we talk about wanting more faith or a greater measure of hope.  Let me say again, faith and hope are important, but we should be desiring love more than anything else.  If we aren’t, our spiritual life may be out of balance.

Let’s not forget the strong admonishment a few verses earlier I Corinthians (chapter 13, v2) where God said if we don’t have love, we are nothing.

Without love, we are good for nothing. Without love, God can’t use us to further His kingdom.  Without love, we are equivalent to one of those kitchen gadgets we bought years ago that sit in the back of our cupboard never to be used.

As a matter of fact, without love, we can actually do damage to God’s kingdom and unknowingly advance the kingdom of darkness.

With love being the greatest of importance to God, isn’t it something we should desire and strive for more than anything else?