The Greatest Is Love

There are three things that remain—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 (TLB)

Love is the first commandment of Jesus Christ. He says, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment” (Matt. 22:37-38). Love is also the new commandment of Jesus Christ: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34). 1 Corinthians 13 gives us five very compelling reasons why we should love:

(1) Without love, all that I say is ineffective (13:1). Words without love are just noise. Love opens up our hearts to each other. It is not enough just to talk a lot without having love. We only listen and respond to loving words.

(2) Without love, all that I know is incomplete (13:2). Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up (8:1). It is better to have a right heart than just to have a head start. People really don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

(3) Without love, all that I believe is insufficient (13:2). There is a misconception that being a Christian is just simply believing in certain doctrines. Guess what? Demons themselves believe that Jesus is the Son of God! But that doesn’t regenerate them.

(4) Without love, all that I give is insignificant (13:3). People often give for the wrong motives of prestige, power and obligation. Unless you mix your giving with genuine love, your giving really means nothing to the recipient.

(5) Without love, all I accomplish is inadequate (13:3). Relationships are more important than accomplishments in life. Success without love is empty. One day, God is going to do an audit on your life. He will not focus on your accomplishments or the size of your bank account. Instead, He will look at your relationships to see how you have lived. The apostle Paul says this over and over again: life minus love equals to zero.

There are three other powerful truths about love. Firstly, love is a choice. You can choose to love whether you feel like it or not. Secondly, love is a sacrifice. The first time in literary history when the word “love” was mentioned had to do with Abraham sacrificing his son, Isaac (Gen. 22:2). Thirdly, love is serving people. Whose needs are you meeting today? Whose hurts are you healing today? Whom are you serving and helping right now?