‘And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love’ (1 Cor. 13:13).
NGU is Bear Grylls’ favourite acronym: Never Give Up. Gritty and gutsy, those three letters are very like Bear Grylls himself. Never Give Up is also the title of a book about steadfast faith and certain hope in Jesus by Dr Michael Youssef. Writing about a time in Rwanda in 1980, Youssef recounts a true story of a Christian man out walking when militia men demanded that he renounced Christ as Lord. This Christian brother doesn’t give up and he is killed on the spot. After his death a statement is discovered in his home titled The Fellowship of the Unashamed. It begins like this:
The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still.
This brother in Christ was certain in hope and steadfast in faith. Yet, according to the Apostle Paul, it is not faith or hope, but love that is the greatest.
Why is love the greatest?
Without faith in Christ we cannot be saved and those who are without hope are lost. Why then is love the greatest?
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing (1 Cor. 13:1-3).
To put it another way, without love my words mean nothing and my gifts amount to nothing. Even though I have great faith I am nothing, and even if in hope, I gladly lose everything, without love, I gain nothing. Love is the greatest because without it even faith and hope mean nothing.
What is this love?
In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Paul describes love by a series of actions. We could summarise Paul’s list in this way: love goes out of its way for others, it does not think of itself and love never gives up on love.
Paul is describing the love of God in these verses. When Jesus came, he revealed God’s love to us: Jesus is patient, he is kind. He does not envy, he does not boast, he is not proud. He does not dishonour others, he is not self-seeking, nor easily angered, he keeps no record of wrongs. He does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, he always perseveres in love. His love never fails.
In verses 8-12 Paul sums up the reason that love is the greatest. It is because love never fails. Paul lists many gifts here including the gifts of prophecy, tongues and knowledge. Yet all these will pass away. Even faith and hope will be replaced when we see Jesus face to face. Then faith will turn to sight and hope will be realised. On that day, love will be all that is left.
Does that mean that love is the greatest because it lasts the longest? Is love like a giant gobstopper winning out over the other sweet gifts of God. No, there is so much more to it than that! Love will not just last, it will increase and intensify beyond anything we could have imagined. Love will keep growing forever. Now we love a God we do not see (1 John 4:12). Then we will see love and our love that is in part, will grow endlessly because we will never reach the end of his limitless love. This journey begins now, as the never-failing love of God changes our hearts and grows our love for God.
Changed by God’s love
Our neighbours are friendly, kind and caring. A few years back a stray black cat appeared in their garden. They fed it and even made a little outdoor house for it, showing love and affection to a snarly creature who gave them only scratches in return! Over the months the cat changed. She was shown such love that she came to trust in the protection of our neighbours. She is now petted and stroked, picked up and taken in. The transformation is amazing.
We are like that stray cat in our sinful state, far from God’s love. Sin leaves us sneering and snarling at God but he shows us his never-failing love. He tends and feeds us, shelters and protects us. The more of his love and compassion we know, the more we are changed and shaped by it. The Bible gives us a picture of how this never-failing love of God works in us to make us like Jesus. In John chapter 13 we read that Jesus is washing the feet of his disciples. Why does he do that? Because he loves them: ‘having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end (John 13:1). In Luke chapter 7, it is Jesus’ feet that are washed. Why? Because of love. The woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears loved much because she had known such love.
It was God who, in love, sent his Son to save us. As his love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, it changes us. How can we grow in holiness, destroy sin in our lives and echo the love of Christ? Only as we allow Jesus to wash our feet, returning over and again to the cross of Christ, where ‘God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us’ (Rom. 5:8). As Thomas Chalmers once wrote: ‘we know of no greater way to keep the love of the world out of our hearts than to keep in our hearts the love of God.’
1 Corinthians 13 is a description of God’s love – the greatest love of all. When we know this love, then we know why love is the greatest. Love is the greatest because it lasts the longest and without it all else is meaningless. Love changes our hearts and teaches us to love in return. Paul is saying here that love is the greatest because God is not faith nor hope, God is love.
If you belong to Jesus by faith, having put your hope in him to save you from sin, Jesus will love you to the end. One day he will look you square in the eye and you will never have to ask again why love is the greatest.
