The Greatest of These

...for God is love (1 John 4:8b)

God doesn't love because of how we act or who we are. He loves us because of who He is. It is His nature to love. Paul put it well when he wrote, "... that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:17b-19).

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (Matthew 22: 37-39).

Love is powerful. It is the most important commandment. In fact, if we could get the Great Commandment to love right, we wouldn't have to worry about anything else. We'd have it all covered and live an obedient, Christian life. As John Calvin said, "Whatever a person may be like, we must still love them because we love God."

And now abideth faith, hope, charity [love], these three; but the greatest of these is charity [love] (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Love is a gift from God. He gave us love, and the world has love because of Him. In talking about the great gifts (faith, hope, and love), Paul tells us the greatest of these is love. And Peter said that love covers a multitude of sins (see 1 Peter 4:8). In this Valentine's season and throughout the year, let us have a renewed spirit of love for God and our fellowman. 

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