The Only One You Can Give
"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." — 1 Corinthians 13:13
Why is love the greatest?
Paul doesn't leave us guessing. Of the three essentials for life, love stands above the rest. But have you ever wondered why? Faith is powerful. Hope is essential. Why does love get top billing?
Here's the answer: Love is the only one of these three that you can give to others.
Think about it. You can give people facts, but you can't produce faith in them. Only God can do that. You can offer encouragement, but you can't manufacture hope in someone's heart. That's God's territory too. Faith and hope are God-initiated gifts that He alone can supply.
But love? Love is something you can actually give away.
That's why Jesus told His disciples behind those locked doors, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." He was commissioning them to be conduits of His love to a world that desperately needed it. Not conduits of information. Not conduits of religious programming. Conduits of love.
"Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another" (1 John 4:11).
God wants to use you as His go-between, connecting His heart to the hearts of people around you. The love that flowed from the cross, the love that was validated by the empty tomb, that same love is meant to flow through you to everyone you encounter.
You can't give people faith. You can't hand them hope. But you can love them, and in doing so, you become the hands and feet of the One who loved them first.
Why is love the greatest?
Paul doesn't leave us guessing. Of the three essentials for life, love stands above the rest. But have you ever wondered why? Faith is powerful. Hope is essential. Why does love get top billing?
Here's the answer: Love is the only one of these three that you can give to others.
Think about it. You can give people facts, but you can't produce faith in them. Only God can do that. You can offer encouragement, but you can't manufacture hope in someone's heart. That's God's territory too. Faith and hope are God-initiated gifts that He alone can supply.
But love? Love is something you can actually give away.
That's why Jesus told His disciples behind those locked doors, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." He was commissioning them to be conduits of His love to a world that desperately needed it. Not conduits of information. Not conduits of religious programming. Conduits of love.
"Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another" (1 John 4:11).
God wants to use you as His go-between, connecting His heart to the hearts of people around you. The love that flowed from the cross, the love that was validated by the empty tomb, that same love is meant to flow through you to everyone you encounter.
You can't give people faith. You can't hand them hope. But you can love them, and in doing so, you become the hands and feet of the One who loved them first.
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