The Greatest Gift is Love

1 Peter 4:8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”

Think about this question that one Christian writer asked; “Why is love so important?” He gave three thought-provoking reasons for us to consider: First, because it is the greatest virtue. Love supersedes faith and hope. 1 Corinthians 13:13 says:“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” This side of Heaven, we have faith, hope and love. The greatest of these is love because on that side of Heaven we no longer need faith or hope as we stand face-to-face and walk with the object of our faith and hope – the Lord Jesus Christ.

Secondly, because it is the greatest command. Jesus stated this command in Matthew 22:37 saying: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” The Lord Jesus also said in John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” It is only in our fallen, sinful flesh desires on this side of eternity, among the distractions of the world and the temptations of the devil, that we need this commandment. Only love exists in heaven. To know Almighty God is to love our Creator Father God.

Third, love is the greatest testimony. What is really going to make your community wake up and believe that your church is really the church of the Lord Jesus Christ? The size of your building? The music? The way your lawn looks? The signage at the street? No. The way you love God and show love to others.

1 Corinthians 13:1-8 “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.”

Nothing can motivate a lost sinner like the heartfelt love of Jesus Christ.

In Christ, Brian