Post by Jerod W. Rickert on Nov 18, 2007 16:21:50 GMT -5
1Co 13:13 And now remain faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Why is Love the greatest of these?? Is it not our faith that saves us?? Is it not Hope what gets us through this life to see the face of God, into the welcoming arms of Christ?? And yet we are left with Love as the greatest...
In this verse we are again looking at Agape... The very Love that God IS. I have been taught and heard many times that it is because of God's nature and very Charater being Love (Agape) that makes this verse ring true. I believe that is true, but not the comprehensive answer to the question...
Faith is the very thing that without, we have no Hope of Salvation. One strengthens the other and both look forward to the Glorious reward that awaits us when this life is through. But Love is the very thing that will reach out and touch a lost and dying world. Faith and Hope reside within us and are by their very nature dificult to show or give away, but LOVE is Faith in action, LOVE is hope brought to life and demonstrated. It is our Love that will be the very hands and feet of Christ to the Sinner...
We are told they will know we are Christians by our Love one for the other, and that he who does not Love, does not know God for God IS Love. Love must be to the very root of who we are as Believers, and it must not be a worldly, flawed love, but the Love of God, Agape!! If we only love as the world loves, how does that show anything to the world?? We must Love in a way that shows how there is no past too dirty, no sin too great, no pit too deep, that the unfailing Love of God cannot break through and reach through the pain and shame and ruin and pull them to a point of salvation and hope...
These 3 remain, for they are eternal, but Love, as the Character of God, and the representation of that Character to a creation desparate to reconnect with Him, is the Greatest of these...
Love as Christ Loved, it's the only answer to a lost and dying world...
Why is Love the greatest of these?? Is it not our faith that saves us?? Is it not Hope what gets us through this life to see the face of God, into the welcoming arms of Christ?? And yet we are left with Love as the greatest...
In this verse we are again looking at Agape... The very Love that God IS. I have been taught and heard many times that it is because of God's nature and very Charater being Love (Agape) that makes this verse ring true. I believe that is true, but not the comprehensive answer to the question...
Faith is the very thing that without, we have no Hope of Salvation. One strengthens the other and both look forward to the Glorious reward that awaits us when this life is through. But Love is the very thing that will reach out and touch a lost and dying world. Faith and Hope reside within us and are by their very nature dificult to show or give away, but LOVE is Faith in action, LOVE is hope brought to life and demonstrated. It is our Love that will be the very hands and feet of Christ to the Sinner...
We are told they will know we are Christians by our Love one for the other, and that he who does not Love, does not know God for God IS Love. Love must be to the very root of who we are as Believers, and it must not be a worldly, flawed love, but the Love of God, Agape!! If we only love as the world loves, how does that show anything to the world?? We must Love in a way that shows how there is no past too dirty, no sin too great, no pit too deep, that the unfailing Love of God cannot break through and reach through the pain and shame and ruin and pull them to a point of salvation and hope...
These 3 remain, for they are eternal, but Love, as the Character of God, and the representation of that Character to a creation desparate to reconnect with Him, is the Greatest of these...
Love as Christ Loved, it's the only answer to a lost and dying world...
