At the close of 1 Corinthians 13, three key virtues are compared. While the original version of this letter to the Corinthian church didn’t have chapters and verses (so this wasn’t necessarily a stopping point in the original letter, before “chapter 14”), verse 13 of chapter 13 provides a nice summary of what was described about love earlier in that chapter.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV
Great faith is impressive. It can move mountains. The hope of the Christian is a certainty in the assurance of God’s faithfulness. It brings joy and purpose to our lives. However, by themselves, without love, neither of these is working as intended in the life of a follower of Jesus.
Have you ever been to a dinner or a potluck where there was so much food that you couldn’t eat it all, and you might not even have room for some of everything that was offered? The solution isn’t to just take a little bit of everything and stuff yourself (although you should take at least a little of Aunt Mary Ann’s mashed potatoes, so that you can tell her how good it was, later). Instead, a better strategy – in my opinion, at least – is to start with what you like the most (even if that’s dessert), and then – if you still have any room – come back later to see what is left.
The good news is that God gives us enough capacity in our lives to have faith, hope, and love at the same time. But, don’t fill up so much on things that should be the result of love in our lives, or things that will not last for eternity, that you miss the most important element of our lives: agape love, from God to us, from us to God, and from us to other people.
Let’s make this practical. If I have a gift of teaching, and I stand up several Sundays each month to teach, and I do a lot of preparation and studying, but I don’t love my students, I am missing the point. If I’m not using my gifts in love, I’m just making noise: I gain nothing. In fact, according to 1 Corinthians 13:2, in that case, I am nothing. (I do love my class members, by the way.)
So, given the “menu” of choices before us, let’s not just fill up on things that are “pretty good”. Instead, may we first fill up on the greatest virtue – love – and watch how much of everything else good that we seek comes along for the ride.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for April 21, 2024
References:
- The Lookout, April 14, 2024, © 2024 Christian Standard Media.
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – 1 Corinthians, by Richard E. Oster, Jr. © 1995 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 