The Greatest Of These Is Love
Faith, hope and love abide; they all have permanency not enjoyed by the gifts which were "in part" and destined to be "done away." No human being is complete who lacks either faith, hope or love. But the Holy Spirit classifies love as the greatest. Why such rating? Perhaps every student has pondered the question, why does the Holy Spirit give the highest place to love? Not only is love a human exercise (man can and must love) but it is a divine exercise as well. "God is love" (I John 4:8) and "God so loved the world. . . ." (John 3:16). Love is as universal and eternal as God. Love is comprehensive, involving all the works of faith and being the very ground of hope. In these and such considerations may be the explanation of God's rating as "the greatest."
Several theories have been proposed to explain the sense in which "the greatest of these is love;" but whether we can satisfy ourselves as to why or in what sense love is the greatest, we still know that it is the greatest. This divine rating of love should stimulate our interest in learning all we can about love and spur us in our efforts to cultivate its characteristics in our lives. This "greatest" is described in First Corinthians, the thirteenth chapter. Why not spend the next five minutes reading the chapter again?
"Now abideth, faith, hope, love, these three, and the greatest of these is love." (I Cor. 13:13).
It is strange that anyone could speak lightly about one preaching on love, when love is by God rated as "the greatest." We are not thinking about the "meringue" sort of emotionalism that some have preached, seeking to palm it off on gullible hearers as love. That which the Bible sets forth as love is healthy, and will produce the kind of soul which is fit for the master's uses.
Paul prayed that "Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith: to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God." Eph. 3:17-19.
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