Love

1 Corinthians 13:13

And now abide faith,hope,love  these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Faith : Without it, there would be no Christianity, or any other religion in the world for that matter. We talk of coming to faith in Christ, and living a life of faith, and we often laud those in Scripture and in modern times who are known for their faith.

The Value of Faith

The value of faith cannot be disputed. In fact, Hebrews 11:6 states, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God, must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."  Without faith, we couldn't come to Christ, and without faith, we couldn't walk in obedience to him. Faith often motivates us to move forward even when the odds are against us. In a sense faith is closely related to hope .

The Value of Hope

Hope keeps us going when the situation we face seems impossible. Hope is the expectation that we will obtain something specific we desire. Think of how life would be without hope. Hope is there for the single mom who doesn't know how she is going to feed her children and keep a roof over their heads. She might give up, if it were not for the hope that some type of breakthrough is right around the corner. Hope is a gift from God that can bring joy in the midst of very difficult circumstance. Hope encourages us that victory is imminent. I wouldn't want to live a life without faith, and I wouldn't want to live a life without hope. However, in spite of how wonderful, important, and life-changing both faith and hope are, they pale in comparison to love . The Bible states that love is greater than both faith and hope.

The Greatest of These is Love

What makes love so amazing? It is what motivated the Father to send His only Son to die for us. Without love, there would have been no redemption for mankind. Not only would we be without love, but without the redemption that was precipitated by love, there would also be no faith, and no hope. You see, nothing else matters, without love. It is foundational for every other good thing in our lives.