The GREATEST of These Is LOVE

"The Greatest of These Is Love"

Several years ago I compiled a set of personal CDs which included many of my favorite contemporary Christian songs at the time. Each of the CDs was themed as I picked songs which I felt conveyed the theme I was attempting to get across. A number of family members received one or more of the CDs as gifts for Christmas that year. The fourth contained music a bit more edgy; that CD was reserved for Bill and me. In order, the themes for these CDs were "Love Heals", "Live Like You're Dying!", "And the Greatest of These is Love!" and "Love Your Life".

Most everyone who is going to read this blog will be able to quote one or more Bible verses or even cliches about "love". "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." [John 3:16 NIV] And again, "If you love someone set them free. If they come back to you it was meant to be." Of course, there are all manner of variations to that cliche about loving someone.

In the summation of "The Love Chapter" written to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 13), the apostle Paul eloquent states: "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." [1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV] Easy to remember, perhaps easier to quote or spout something close. What is often overlooked is the "tough stuff" of love, sometimes hard to remember and eve more challenging to carry out. 

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have 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 do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

"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 Corinthians 13:1-8 NIV]

Beautiful words. This portion of Scripture is often spoken at weddings but I contend that it applies to all of life. Another cliche seeks to remind us that "you can't live on love"! I would suggest that "you can't live without love". Human beings if neglected as babies and not shown love will not develop to their full potential. Elderly humans wither and die quickly in the absence of love. This is one of the reasons that the surviving spouse of couples who have had lengthy marriage relationships of 50, 60, 70 or more years of marriage frequently die within a short period of time of each other. At every stage of life, we depend on love to live as functioning humans.

Love is so much more than mindlessly repeating three words, chocolate and flowers on Valentine's Day or warm and fuzzy feel good moments. Love is hard work. Love is sacrifice. Jesus spoke about the love of His Father and His passing of that love command to us. He said: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends." [John 15:9,12-13 NIV] 

It was stated earlier that love requires sacrifice. Jesus loved to the point of sacrificing His life to demonstrate that love. "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." [Romans 5:8b] We know that God calls on us throughout Scripture to "love our neighbors as [ourselves]". Christ pushes us further when He says: "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." [Matthew 5:43-44 NIV]

"Now these three remain: faith, hope and love." What can we say about faith? "Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." [Hebrews 11:1 NIV] By grace we are saved through faith as the result of Christ's death and resurrection. Hope is mentioned throughout the Old and New Testament. Paul writes about the hope that we gain as a result of our faith which comes through grace.

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. 

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." [Romans 5:1-8 NIV]

There you have it! Faith, hope and love come to us through Christ and Him alone. As sinners, we were enemies of Christ and He died for us. The love that we demonstrate for family, friends and enemies is a result of the Holy Spirit's work in us. "We love because [God] first loved us!"

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” [1 John 4:7-12 NIV]