The Greatest

"And now these three remain:  faith, hope and love.  And the greatest of these is love."

1 Corinthians 13:13

Here we are, at the end of our study of 1 Corinthians 13.  My goodness, it certainly has been a journey - one that I have deeply learned and cherished - and glad that I took with all of you.  I have always looked upon this particular verse as the highlight of this chapter.  By awakening all the other "nuggets" in this chapter, this now seems to culminate the thoughts of Paul so nicely.

We began in mid January, trying to focus in on how the aspects of this sought-after chapter could effect our lives.  We end with three words that define us as Christians.  When someone asks me why I am a Christian, many wonderful Bible verses come to mind - yet, this one seems to sum it all up so wonderfully.

Faith.  Many people have faith.  They may have faith in people, faith in idols, and even faith in their own Gods.  The faith that I have seems to grow stronger, grows deeper the closer I come to Jesus.  When I was younger, faith meant that I believed Jesus was my Savior.  I had faith and belief that He died for my sins.  Certainly, that hasn't changed over the years.  Where my faith has deepened is how I better understand ALL that Jesus did for me.  I look at the faith that He has in me.  Little old me.  With everything on His plate, He chooses to put His faith in me to live out His love.  This only strengthens my faith in His glory.

Hope.  More than a wish.  More than a desire.  More than a goal.  Hope in God surpasses all that.  Hope in God is not a wish, but a certainty.  Our hope is an assurance of what is to come.  Our hope is conviction of full redemption.  Our hope is summarized with a full understanding that God will always do what is right for us, even though at the time it may not seem right. "Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness."  The hope we revel in is deeper than anything we can imagine - for our hope is in God.

Love.  There has been so much written, shared, sung and discussed about love.  Yes, that could be a blog all in its own.  We can see love every day.  Love for a spouse, love for a child, love for a parent, love for a friend.  All of that can be seen, if we look closely enough, around us.  So how can love be 'the greatest'?  When the love we talk about circles around God, it is a different kind of love.  God's love to us is an "agape" love - a love that is completely unconditional and unselfish.  People say they have this type of love all the time.  Yet, we are human.  We don't have this all the time.  We do try to aspire to have this kind of love - and that it what God wants!  He wants us to "shoot for the stars" and show a wonderful "agape" love to those around us.  That is why it is the greatest!!

Oh how I could go on and on about these three cherished words.  I'm going to let YOU do that.  Think about these words, reflect on them.  See where these words take you each and every day.  I pray that this study has brought you to a deeper understanding of Paul, the Corinthians, God, and YOU.  Peace and love to all.

"Heavenly Father - thank you for the blessing to walk through 1 Corinthians 13 together.  You showed us the wonder of this chapter and all the special morsels you had tucked away for us.  As we depart from this study and enter the world around us, may we do so with hearts filled with great love - Agape Love - that will shine from within us.  For within us is you, our Holy Spirit, who can help us bring your love to all that we meet.  In your gracious and loving name we pray.  Amen!"