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The Greatest of These is Love Yet Faith Matters

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1 Corinthians 13 - Love is the Greatest
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor. 13:13)

“Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6).  Yet, love, not faith, is the greatest commandment (Matt. 22:37-40).  Faith is the starting point with love as the ultimate.  Between there we have a lot of growing to do.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. (2 Pet. 1:5-7)

For Those of You in Ministry:

Don’t assume you will automatically love people as Christ loves.  2 Peter 1 clearly delineates a growth process in getting there.  Have you ever experienced hardships in ministry, times when things didn’t go as expected or people didn’t cooperate as they should?  Embrace those experiences as opportunities to learn goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, and brotherly kindness.  As you do, you will learn more and more to truly love.  If you choose instead to grumble, complain, get embittered, or similar negative reactions, don’t expect love to become the greatest characteristic within you.

About Those You Serve:

Don’t expect everyone to automatically love one another as they should just because they have put their faith in Jesus.  Be patient as they too must go through the process of growing from faith to love.  When conflicts come, as they will, challenge people to work through them so they learn from these experiences and grow together.  If you try to “fix” all the problems, how will people learn?  Rather, be there with encouragement and counsel as they walk through the process.

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