The (deepest) of these is (Christ) love

I start by saying that I write this post first and foremost as a reminder for myself. If these words find a way into someone else's heart, then praise God! It is not my doing.

We live in a world that has not only rejected Christ's Love but has also replaced it (meaning Agape) with its own pathetic version of love, which goes by the same name but a very different meaning. I think we all pretty much know 1 Corinthians 13. Or do we? I memorized that passage when I was about 12 or so. Did it do me any good? Not really. I mean I knew it, I memorized it, I could quote it! But alas, I didn't know it at the time, and so I quickly forgot what I had learned and sought the world's verion of love, which led me to absolutely nowhere... except loneliness, despair, despondency, and emptiness. Yes, I came to that point. I was recently reading through an old high school notebook with a friend from my high school days, and as we read it I found that I had written the work love almost on every page, but to my shame, almost every word I wrote made me want to vomit. It was an ugly kind of love, like a really bad facade of pink icing on a completely burnt cake. You see, dear friend, our sinful nature leads us to pursue the wrong kind of love, be it platonic or romantic or whatever kind of love you want to call it - if it's the kind that the world invented then it is the wrong kind of love.

What is, then, this greater Love without which we are literally nothing (13:2)?? How can I be nothing - I mean, I've accomplished at least something in life. I've been places, done nice things, been a generally good person..... and herein lies the fault of our reasoning. All the "good deeds" and discipline in the world cannot lead us to joy and peace in Christ, because despite all that, we are still living for ourselves. Not until we surrender ourselves and give every ounce of love within ourselves to Jesus will we accomplish anything that has any worth in God's eyes. Nothing we ever do will amount to anything if it is not directed by God Himself and done out of love for and to the glory of Jesus Christ. 

1 Cor 13:1-3  If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

Here is a link to all the verses in the New Testament in which the word "agape" is used. Read them and try to know them. Try to understand how agape love fits into your life, and how you can apply it towards yourself and your love towards God and others. Open your Bible and read these verses in context. Agape is the main message of the New Testament - God's testament/covenant towards us is that He loved us enough to sacrifice Himself for us, and He continues to unwaveringly love us daily in this fashion. Agape is selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love. Agape is the source of all love, joy, peace, contentment, hope, the reason we can obtain salvation and become God's children, the reason the Bride of Christ is so passionate, the reason that one day, Christ will return for us and take us to an everlasing home of eternal Life... If you think about this Truth, then really, what else do you need from life? Think about it - if you imagine the fruits of the spirit growing on a tree, the root of that tree would be agape - holy, Christ-love. I know there are other kinds of love that are mentioned in the Bible, but without Christ love, we cannot truly experience even those, because we are nothing without it... Without it, we are just pretending to love and be happy. We are just pretending to be Christians. We are just pretending to know God. We are nothing but a bunch of professional stage actors who have never experienced the true life story of God-love and have never let it permeate our lives.

1 Cor. 13: 4-8   Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

What you have just read is the essence of Christ-love. Learn to love like He did, and you will find your life transforming into a beautiful refection of His perfect Love. When you know Christ-love, you have no reason to despair - you have found the one thing that never fails! Rejoice, o weary soul! You have found the secret to Life! Drink, and never thirst again! Believe, and never doubt again! Love, and let yourself be loved by the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace, your Reedemer and Bridegroom, or whatever else you love to call our precious Jesus. 

1 Cor. 13: 8-13   Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Oh the deep, deep Love... All I need and trust, is the deep, deep Love of Jesus!