Love endures
Last week we saw that love is not primarily a matter of sentiment or feelings but of attitude and actions. Today we will see its primacy among the fruit of the Spirit.
After describing love's attributes in 1 Corinthians 13, Paul concludes, 'Now abide these three - faith hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.' Love is the greatest for two reasons, the first because God does not exercise faith or hope since He knows all things, present and future. God exercises love, however. In fact, the Apostle John writes, 'God is love'.
The second reason is that we exercise faith and hope and love in this life. In eternity faith and hope will be fulfilled, but love is everlasting.
Originally published in the church bulletin Nov. 9, 2014.