If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.  For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.  When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.  For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.  And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.  1 Corinthians 13

The windows lining the walls of our Sanctuary are adorned with beautiful stained glass depicting images from God’s holy word.  Beginning with Moses carrying stone tablets inscribed with the law, the beautiful glass panels depict scenes involving the prophets, Jesus and the apostles.  Four sections of pews are divided by three aisles leading to three sets of doors.  Above one set of doors, the beautiful stained glass declares the word “faith.”  Another says, “hope.”  The center door says, “love.”  

After everything, after all our striving, after all our pursuits and efforts to succeed, after it all, “faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”  Love is the greatest characteristic of human existence and experience, and Christ Jesus, who is love, should be the foundational cornerstone of everything we do and all that we strive to do.  

The passage above begins discussing lofty, meaningful, important and good human endeavors – the ability to speak like an angel, the ability to prophesy, understand complex things and explain everything to others, and the desire to give extravagantly to others – and concludes that none of them has value unless founded upon and rooted in love.  The passage continues describing what love looks like as it transforms spirits and souls within whom it abides.  Souls transformed by indwelling love are patient, kind and rejoicing in truth.  They “bear all things, believe all things, hope all things and endure all things.”  

God’s holy word tells us directly, “God is love” (1 John 4:8).  He is the standard, the definition, the plumbline for love.  Without God, love does not exist, and the word has no meaning, and without God’s indwelling, we lack the resources to truly love.  We may taste hints of it and feel glimpses of it, experiencing just enough to long for more because we are each created in God’s holy image, we have His DNA imbedded in ours, and as a result we long for Him.  He is love and we long to be filled with His love, to drink of His living water, to have His life, light and love filling us and flowing through us.  Jesus explains that everyone is born with elements of love within them saying, 

 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.  Matthew 5:46-48

Through Christ Jesus, His indwelling Holy Spirit, the resulting transformation of our souls and spirits, and our gradually release of self, receipt of Him and relationship with Him, we gain the ability to truly love.  Through Christ Jesus, love becomes foundational to who we are, influencing our worldview, our reactions to external stimuli, and all our actions, to the point that love drives our response to the most horrific situations.  Jesus says, “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…. Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:44 and 48).  Mere humans are not designed or built to do this, but God is and through Christ Jesus and His indwelling Holy Spirit and the resulting transformation of our souls and spirits, He makes this possible.

The passage first set forth above mentions briefly what this looks like.  If a person abides in God and God abides in him or her, what does this look like to others who see them?  The passage above says love is patient, kind and rejoicing in truth.  A different passage expands on this concept saying, “By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control…” (Galatians 5:22-23).  Transformed spirits and souls reveal themselves to the world through specific outward attributes known as fruit of the Spirit.

God is love and ideally, through His indwelling we gain Him, and attributes of His presence reveal themselves through us such that love becomes foundational to our existence.  Jesus says the greatest two commandments are loving God and loving our neighbors (see Matthew 22:36-40), and if we have allowed God to transform us such that we are grounded in love, loving God and loving others would be our new natural.

John writes,

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.  God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.  In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.  1 John 4:7-12

The passage first written above then moves to the brevity of life here on earth, the brevity of our earthly pursuits, desires and needs, and the unimaginable dimension of eternity.  Everything earthly will end, but God is love and love never ends.  Now we have a taste of God’s glory, but then we will feast at the banquet.  Now we see colors dimly relying on light and our physical eyes, but then we will see it fully, unfiltered by physical taint, in its pure, full, uninterrupted glory.  When I read heavenly visions recorded in Scripture and see images of heavenly creatures basking in God’s glory, singing never-ending songs of praise and worship (see Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4), I cannot even imagine what that will be like – I believe it is true, I believe it is really happening, but my imagination is too limited to grasp what that might feel like.  Then we will bask in God’s glory, in the fullness, the richness, the indescribable awesomeness of His glory, and faith, hope and love will remain.  They will continue to abide, and the greatest of these is love.  Love never ends.

May you receive Christ Jesus into your heart fully, may you allow Him to truly be your Savior and Lord, may you allow Him to fully transform your spirit and soul, may others know you are His disciple by the physical manifestation of His love flowing through you.  Amen.