The Greatest is Love

By: Rebecca Livermore
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:41:51
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And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love ( 1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV).

Faith: Without it, there would be no Christianity, or any other religion in the world for that matter. We talk of coming to faith in Christ, living a life of faith, and often laud those in Scripture and in modern times who are known for their faith. The value of faith cannot be disputed. In fact, Hebrews 11:6 states, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God, must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” Without faith, we couldn’t come to Christ, and without faith, we couldn’t walk in obedience to Him. Faith is what often gets us through times that are tough. In a sense it is closely related to hope.

Hope is what keeps us going when whatever situation we are facing seems impossible. Hope is the expectation that we will obtain something specific we desire. Think of how life would be without hope. Hope is there for the single mom who doesn’t know how she is going to feed her children and keep a roof over their heads. Such a woman desires a better life for her children, and is filled with the expectation of what it will be like to see that dream fulfilled. She might give up, if it wasn’t for the hope that some type of breakthrough was right around the corner. Dreamers and visionaries are filled with hope. It is a gift from God that can help bring joy in the midst of very difficult circumstance. Hope encourages us that victory is imminent. Would you want to live without hope?

I wouldn’t want to live a life without faith, and I wouldn’t want to live a life without hope. However, in spite of how wonderful, important, and life-changing both faith and hope are, they pale in comparison to love. The Bible states that love is greater than both faith and hope.

What makes love so amazing? For starters, it is what motivated the Father to send His only Son to die for us. Without love, there would have been no redemption for mankind. Not only would we be without love, but without the redemption that was precipitated by love, there would also be no faith, and no hope. You see, nothing else matters, without love. It is foundational for every other good thing in our lives.

Father, I pray that You will put within us a spirit of love. Help us to grow in this fruit, so that we can better serve You and others. We thank You for all of the wonderful gifts You have given us, including faith and hope, but we want to specifically thank You for the gift of love that supersedes all other gifts. Amen.

© 2006 by Rebecca Livermore, a Christian speaker and writer from Denver, Colorado. Her passion is helping people grow spiritually. To read more of her articles on Christian living, and to check out her always growing selection of Christian resource materials, visit http://www.rebeccalivermore.com .

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