1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Faith, Hope, and Love
1 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. 2 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. 3 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.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 John 4:7-21
God is LOVE
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Matthew 22:36-40
The Two Great Commandments of Love
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Faith, hope, and love are the three great virtues in life...And the greatest of these is love...
And this is easier to understand, when we know that God is LOVE...Love is cherished and maybe the most cherished thing that we have in our world and in our lives...We search for love throughout our entire lives...We seek this connection to be close to others, and to love others and to be loved...
We realize this when we better understand that God is LOVE...We are made in His Image...God created us, and by Him being our Creator love is a big part of our lives...And since He created us, this makes sense that we value the ones we love...Love is often the main object in our lives, and it should be...
Peter Kreeft says that the ones we love give us our highest highs in life, but also they can give us our lowest lows...And throughout one's life we can see that love gives us highs and can bring us some lows...Love and the ones you love are the most important part of one's life, thus causing this contrast...So love gives us highs and gives us lows throughout our lives...We cannot love others without this vulnerability...This choice to get hurt or not get hurt is a part of love...It is hard to understand when we have these lows with our loved ones, that love is a great virtue...But because we love and have this vulnerability, life is more beautiful...Often we need to step back to see this, or have some time to reflect on the things of love...
When we recognize that faith, hope and love are the three greatest virtues in life, and we see that the greatest of these is love, we have this kind of connection with our Creator and our neighbor -that Jesus talks and why they are in fact, the Two Greatest Commandments...