But the greatest of these is love - Sept 16
“So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Cor 13:13
“But the greatest of these is love” might just be the most tweetable Bible summary. It gets to the essence of what it is all about; God’s love, and our love in return. All our creeds, dogmas, and statements of faith fall by the wayside if they are not first guided by love.
Love is often sentimentalized or dismissed as an emotion that is of little relevance to most of daily life. What does love have to do with banking, business, or running a government? But imagine if the foreign policy of nations was guided first by love. It would silence the noisy gongs and clashing cymbals of the war machine. But still, we dismiss love as not being “realistic.”
Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is to love God, and the second is to love others. This contains all the law and prophets, all the gospels and epistles.
Love of God is to infuse all we do. Brother Lawrence is a beautiful example of a life where each little act was an expression of love. His oft-quoted saying exemplifies this: “I turn my little omelet in the pan for the love of God.” And Therese of Lisieux reminds us “Let us love, since that is what our hearts were made for.”
God’s being is pure love and we as God’s creation, on whom God pours love, strive to reflect that love back to God and to everyone and everything else. Love is the north star, there to guide all we do. God is love and created us out of love in order to love. Sharing love may be the truest expression of our being created in the image of God.