Love

I really like the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 13:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
(1 Corinthians 13:1-8a)

There is no higher value than love. There is nothing more important than love. There is no greater commandment than love. There is no better marker for the “one true church” than love.

Conversely; there is no more pronounced deficiency in a person’s life than a deficit of love. There is no easier place to stir brother against brother, sister against sister than the one where love is in decline. There is no more caustic place to raise your children than a place where they are not loved.

We need love. We desperately need love. We need it so badly that we sometimes deny our need for it and pretend to be thick-skinned, self-sufficient, an island. But it’s not true – we all strongly feel the gaping hole that demands to be filled by love.

Thank God he loves us. And more, he intends for us to love one another…deeply, intently, sacrificially. To surround one another with protection and love. To give our very hearts to each other.

Love never fails.