1 Corinthians 13:11-13
Faith, Hope, and Love
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 4:8
God is Love
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
John 3:16-20
God's LOVE
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."
St. Paul tells us about the three great attributes of faith, hope, and love...And of these three things in the world, one is the greatest...The greatest attribute in the world is love...It should not surprise us then that God is love...Love is what God is...LOVE is who God is...
God loves the world...God loves us, but more importantly each one of us...This is why He sent His Son to us, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life...God loves us that He sent His Son to die for us each one of us...This is why He sent His Son...We sinned and need His help...Each one of us individually need Jesus...And even though God loves the whole world, Jesus died for each and every man for the sins each one of us has committed...
What is love is a very difficult question...We know that there are different kinds of love...A friendship, a parent, a spouse, our LORD, and other things give or have different kinds of love...There is a love we have for a close friend...There is a love we have for our spouse...There also seems to be a love we have for the things we like, like food, cars, clothing, or a job...Then there is the love we have for God...When we say that God is love helps complicate the difficult question of love...Most people think and believe that love is a feeling and is an expression of that feeling...But is God just a feeling?...Or at the very least, isn't God much more than a feeling?...A part of God may be a feeling, but God is Almighty...God is in control of everything...
Love is accepting, appreciating, and wanting the best for the one you are in love with in everything...To use some of St. Paul's words...Love is patient, kind, does not envy, is humble, and does not boast...Love never fails...All of these attributes are in the essence in and of God...And these are the things God wants for us...
Jesus teaches us to love God, love our neighbors, and to love our enemies...Jesus wants us to go beyond love for our spouses, parents, and children...Loving our enemy is a difficult concept...Jesus wants us to realize we can live together with everyone...We can be connected with everyone in entire world by the amount of love each one of has in us...But love is all over the world...There is love in each nation...So love is universal...Love from one country to another all over the earth, there is love...
Love is the greatest of all the virtues...Maybe we are still the early Christians when we think about Jesus two thousand years ago, and know that God is eternal...We also know that Jesus was with Him from the very beginning...We are all still learning about love in this sense of time...God wants us all to live together and love one another, even our enemies...We are not there yet...We need God to advance us in love, especially the love of enemies...Only God can advance us into the love that He intended for us in the beginning...When everyone understands God's love and what His meaning of love is, then we will be connected, bonded, and united with all our neighbors of the world...Only He and His Son will advance us to the point when there will be a true peace on earth...Only God can do this...That is because He is Love...The greatest attribute in the world is Love...The Greatest of all things is God...God is LOVE...