As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. (John 15:9 ESV)
Time and Love
My first best friend watched and enjoyed Star Trek. We were two boys in elementary school who enjoyed watching Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock fly around the universe, and the rest of our school thought we were odd. Well, we were.
But having someone on my side made all the difference. When other students rolled their eyes and teased… Dave and I could still relax. We were not alone.
That is what love does. When we are loved, we are not alone.
But what is so great about love? Why does Paul tell us that, “faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love?” (I Corinthians 13:13 ESV)
Part of the answer lies in time. Faith helps us because faith gives us a secure past. Hope helps us because it gives us a secure future. But Paul calls love the best of the three, perhaps because we are loved and we love now.
While we probably remember past acts of love fondly… and we probably look forward to loving in the future… love is best experienced, understood, and performed right now.
Jesus points this out when He tells us to abide in love. We abide in the present tense. We do it now.
Further. unlike Faith and Hope, which work only as unique gifts from God in one direction, love as a gift from God works in two ways. We have faith in God. We have hope in God. But God both loves us, and we love Him.
It is hard to understand how that works, and so love is often viewed as a mystery. But it really is not. We are granted love (both in our ability to give it, and our opportunity to receive it) as a supernatural gift.
And love is the answer to most of our problems.
We will be looking (as part of a three-day cycle) at the love described, defined, and demonstrated in God’s Word. Love basks in the middle of faith and love. Love, supernaturally given to us, lets us understand who God is. Love looks around at the here and now and sees God’s unconditional love acted out, God’s choice to be with us now, and God’s permanent relationship with His people today.