1 Corinthians 13-13 And now these three remain,
Faith,
Hope,
And love.
But the greatest of these is love.
Come right now to where you're sitting or laying on the mat.
Start to relax your muscles.
Starting with your feet,
Your calves,
Your thighs.
Bring your awareness to your shoulders and let them relax just a little bit.
Sinking down.
Relax those muscles that are tight in your neck.
Roll your head to the left,
To the right.
Stretch just a little bit your spine upright and place your palms on your thighs,
Palms up.
What does it mean,
The greatest of these is love?
1 Corinthians 13-13 says,
And now these three remain,
Faith,
Hope,
And love.
But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13-13 lists love along with faith and hope as a gift that lasts forever.
The lasting nature of faith,
Hope,
And love make them greater than all the other gifts of the Spirit.
From those which are temporary,
The gifts of prophecy,
Tongues,
Knowledge are mentioned in verse 8 and is coming to an end someday.
Love is greater than faith and hope.
In that,
Both faith and hope need love for their existence.
Without love there could be no true faith.
As Paul says,
If I have faith that can move mountains but do not have love,
I am nothing.
1 Corinthians 13-2 Without love there can be no genuine hope.
Why would we truly hope for something that we are not in love with?
Faith and hope have no life if not accompanied by love.
Another reason that love is the greatest gift is that it is essential to the Divine's nature.
1 John 4.
8 tells us that God is love.
The Divine gives his love and we reflect that love back to him.
Love has no beginning and does not end.
And this is the love into which we are invited.
John Calvin puts forth a very simple reason why love is the greatest gift.
Because faith and hope are our own.
Love is diffused among others.
In other words,
Faith and hope benefits me,
The possessor.
But love always benefits another.
In John 13,
34-35 Jesus says,
A commandment I give to you,
Love one another as I have loved you.
So you must love one another.
Love always requires an other as an object.
Love cannot remain within itself.
And that is the part of what makes love the greatest gift.
Love is core to Divine character.
Love never fails,
Per se,
And it never will fail.
Because of this,
Love is greater than even hope and faith.
Let's practice love today.
1 Corinthians 13,
13 And now these three remain,
Faith,
Hope,
And love.
But the greatest of these is love.
