1 Corinthians 13:13 (NKJV)
“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
In the 1960’s Jackie DeShannon sang, “What the World Needs Now is Love Sweet Love.”
The first verse said,
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No, not just for some but for everyone.
These are good words but outside of Christ we really do not know what love is. Paul writes about “faith, hope, and love.” We need faith and we need hope but neither of these find the true value of life without the Love of Christ living in us. When Christ went to the cross, he died for everyone. But not everyone is willing to accept Him. Not everyone loves Him.
Love is a choice we make. For many when the emotions leave the “love” leaves. This happens in so many human relationships because true love is not there. When Christianity no longer works, they leave because the love of Christ did not live in them. They only accepted the perceived blessings that would come with giving any effort in the relationship. They loved, but they only loved an allusion of what Christianity is.
The world needs love but not the world’s version of love. We need the love of God living in us. Both faith and hope are wonderful qualities and gifts of God. But the greatest is love. In a relationship we often look at what we can get out of it. The greatest gift in a relationship is giving to the one we love. In Christianity Christ is the recipient of our love. When we love Christ, it leads us to brings others into our circle of love.
When we, being redundant in this, have the true love of Christ living in us we then have the freedom to express His love to others.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
John 15:9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.”
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Ephesians 5:2 “And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”