1.Corinthians 13:13 - And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1. John 4:8 - He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
‘Agape’ is the Greek word used here for love--God's form of 'love'. God IS love, it's His nature. This love is greater than faith and hope.
We see in Galatians 5:6 that our faith works through love. And faith does not work without hope - because we must have a goal, something to believe God for. While we need all of them working together, this is why the Bible says that love is greater than both faith and hope. Nor will the spiritual gifts work without love (1 Cor. 13: 1-3). Nothing we do will benefit us without it being done out of a love motive.
How is God's love? Definitely not the same as natural human love that can turn into hatred overnight. God's love never fails.
The God-kind of love is defined in 1 Corinthians. 13: 4-8:
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 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.
We see here that love is greater than spiritual gifts. They are gifts operating in the Church for now; there are no tongues, prophecies, words of knowledge, or gifts of the spirit in heaven. But God's love will last, because God IS love, He is eternal!
When we were born again, His love was implanted in our hearts. In order to fully believe God and to be able to operate in God's faith, we must walk in God's love. Likewise, we will never be able to fully believe in God until we understand and walk in God's form of love.
Questions to consider:
Are we touchy, worried, annoyed? Do we always notice the negative things done to us or happening around us?
If we answer yes to any of those, we will not be able to believe the best about all people. Divine love comes with peace and creates peace. Love is shown in words and deeds! Let's practice love - let our love-walk develop and grow! Let us do to others what we want them to do to us!