And the Greatest of These

Devotional

Day 1: The Eternal Nature of Faith, Hope, and Love

Three virtues will outlast everything else in this world, standing forever as the foundation of God's kingdom. While many things in our lives are temporary and will fade away, these three remain. They are not fleeting emotions or passing ideals but are enduring, permanent qualities established by God Himself. Their eternal nature invites us to build our lives upon what truly lasts. [01:35]

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13, NKJV)

Reflection: As you consider the things you invest your time and energy in, which of them are built on the temporary and which are built on the eternal? How might shifting your focus to what lasts forever change your priorities this week?

Day 2: Clothing Ourselves with Love in Community

Love is meant to be the primary garment we wear, shaping our character and guiding our interactions. It is the virtue that binds all other aspects of the Christian life together in perfect harmony. This love is not merely an internal feeling but an active choice that affects how we speak, act, and relate to one another. It is the visible mark of a life surrendered to God's way of living. [06:10]

Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. (Colossians 3:14, NLT)

Reflection: What would it look like for you to intentionally "clothe yourself" with love today in your conversations and actions? Is there a specific relationship or situation where applying this principle could bring greater harmony?

Day 3: The Fifteen Characteristics of God's Love

The love described in Scripture is defined by very specific, tangible attributes that we can examine and practice. It is patient and kind, rejecting jealousy, boastfulness, pride, and rudeness. This love chooses not to be irritable and refuses to keep a record of wrongs suffered. It is a proactive love that never gives up, never loses faith, and endures through every circumstance. [09:41]

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NKJV)

Reflection: As you read through the fifteen characteristics of love, which one stands out to you as an area for growth? What is one practical step you could take this week to cultivate that characteristic in a specific relationship?

Day 4: The Supremacy of Love Over Spiritual Gifts

Even the most powerful spiritual gifts are rendered completely meaningless if they are not exercised through love. Prophecy, knowledge, and faith that can move mountains amount to nothing if love is absent. Spiritual activities and ministries have limited value when they are disconnected from the motivating and guiding force of God's love. The eternal value of our service is found in its expression of genuine love. [19:02]

If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:2, NLT)

Reflection: In your service to God and others, have you ever been tempted to prioritize activity or giftedness over genuine love? How can you ensure that love is the foundation and motivation for all you do?

Day 5: Asking "What Would Love Do?" in Difficult Moments

A simple yet profound question can guide us through challenging decisions and interactions: "What would love do?" This question helps us move beyond our initial reactions and align our responses with the character of God. Since God is love, this question essentially asks us how He would respond in our situation. It is a practical tool for making our faith visible and tangible to the world around us. [33:30]

This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. (1 John 4:10, NLT)

Reflection: When you face a difficult decision or a tense interaction today, will you pause to ask, "What would love do?"? What might be the outcome if you chose to respond from that place rather than from your first impulse?

Sermon Summary

The series frames love as the greatest enduring virtue, rooted in 1 Corinthians 13 and woven through other New Testament passages. Scripture anchors the claim that faith and hope have a temporal fulfillment—faith will turn to sight and hope to realized joy—while love remains the perpetual atmosphere of heaven. Paul’s love chapter receives a close reading: love binds believers, clothes their character, and orders community life. Colossians urges clothing oneself with love so that unity and harmony hold the body together. First John emphasizes that God is love not as feeling but as decisive action: God loved first and sent Christ as a sacrificial atonement.

A practical catalog of love’s marks surfaces in the familiar fifteen characteristics—patience, kindness, freedom from jealousy and boastfulness, humility, polite behavior, forgiveness, perseverance, hopefulness, and truth-loving joy—each reframing moral choices into a single ethic. The list challenges religious activity: spiritual gifts and spectacular faith lose their value when detached from love. Galatians clarifies the link: faith works through love. Thus spiritual power and doctrinal certainty must submit to love as the measuring rod for ministry and personal conduct.

Ethical tensions receive careful attention. Love does not celebrate injustice; it rejoices when truth prevails. Love navigates hard decisions by asking, “What would love do?”—a decision rule that privileges sacrificial care over sentiment or mere correctness. Love also refuses to chronicle offenses; it relinquishes records of wrongs and refuses irritability as a default posture. The teaching rejects romanticized notions of love tied to holidays or sentimentality and insists on a love that transforms behavior and community life.

Practically, love expresses itself in generosity, mercy, and disciplined stewardship—supporting food ministries and cross-cultural outreach exemplifies love in action. The discourse closes with prayerful commitment to let love shape choices, ministries, and daily habits so that discipleship becomes visible through steadfast, sacrificial care for others.

Key Takeaways

1. Love outlasts faith and hope Faith and hope will reach fulfillment when faith becomes sight and hope becomes realized joy, but love remains the enduring ethic that shapes heaven’s atmosphere. Because love persists beyond fulfillment, it provides the permanent orientation for Christian life and the ultimate aim toward which faith moves. [24:17]
2. Spiritual gifts require love Extraordinary gifts and bold spiritual experiences lose their moral and redemptive force when unmoored from love; prophecy, knowledge, and miraculous faith add nothing without love’s direction. Evaluating spiritual ministry by love protects communities from deception and self-exaltation while ensuring gifts serve restoration and healing. [19:02]
3. Love reshapes daily character The fifteen traits listed in 1 Corinthians 13 translate doctrine into habits: patience, kindness, humility, forgiveness, and perseverance test theology in ordinary interactions. True spiritual maturity shows not in clever arguments but in steady, costly practices that repair broken relationships and pursue harmony. [09:41]
4. God’s love is sacrificial action Divine love finds its definition not in sentiment but in sending the Son as an atoning sacrifice; the core of Christian love rests in decisive, costly intervention for sinners. That sacrificial model calls believers to concrete care that bears costs and seeks restoration. [34:46]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[01:02] - Series Overview
[01:35] - Theme Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:13
[03:26] - Philippians on Fellowship
[04:17] - John’s Refrain: God Is Love
[06:10] - Clothe Yourself With Love (Colossians)
[07:01] - Introducing the Love Chapter
[09:41] - Fifteen Characteristics of Love
[19:02] - Gifts Without Love Are Nothing
[24:17] - Why Love Remains Greatest
[34:46] - Defining God’s Love: Sacrifice
[38:33] - Closing Prayer & Offering

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading
1 Corinthians 13:1–8 (NKJV)
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. 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.

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Observation questions

What are the 15 characteristics of love listed in 1 Corinthians 13? [09:41]
According to the passage, what becomes of spiritual gifts like prophecy, knowledge, and faith if they are exercised without love?
How does Colossians 3:14 describe the function of love in the community of believers? [06:10]
What does 1 John 4:10 identify as the ultimate demonstration of God’s love? [34:46]

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Interpretation questions

Why does love “never fail” even though spiritual gifts like prophecy and knowledge will cease? [24:17]
How does the description of love in 1 Corinthians 13 challenge common cultural or romantic ideas about love? [33:50]
In what ways does love serve as a “measuring rod” for ministry and spiritual authenticity? [19:02]
What does it mean that “faith works through love” (Galatians 5:6), and how does that relate to the idea that love is the greatest virtue? [26:26]

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Application questions

Which of the 15 characteristics of love (e.g., patience, kindness, not keeping records of wrongs) is most challenging for you to practice in your closest relationships? What would it look like to grow in that area this week? [14:46]
When facing a difficult decision or conversation, how can the question “What would love do?” guide your words and actions? [33:30]
Have there been times when spiritual activity (prayer, serving, giving) felt empty or disconnected from love? How can you realign your heart to operate from love rather than duty or appearance? [19:02]
How does understanding God’s love as “sacrificial action” rather than sentimental feeling change the way you love others—especially those who are hard to love? [34:46]
In what practical ways can you “clothe yourself with love” this week in your home, workplace, or church community? [06:10]
Is there someone you need to forgive or a record of wrongs you’ve been holding onto? What step can you take this week to release that and choose love? [14:46]
How can you tangibly express love through generosity or service to meet a practical need in your community, like supporting a food pantry or cross-cultural mission? [39:39]

Sermon Clips

Lord, help us to say at the right moment, what would love do? What would love say before we go and head in the wrong direction or to try to help guide us in making tough decisions and and handling tough situations. What would love do? We thank you for that teaching teaching and download that in our hearts so we can represent you well in the kingdom of God. [00:38:39] (25 seconds) #LetLoveDecide

But the one thing that's most important is that god is love. Love is not merely something god does. It is who he is. Right. The world cannot see our faith directly. It cannot see our hope directly, but it can see It can see. Our love. Makes sense. Love is the mark of a disciple. [00:30:17] (26 seconds) #LoveIsTheMark

What does it mean when god is love? It is not. I'm a tell you what it's not. Okay. Human It is not romance, emotion, or affirmation. It is not what feels loving. It is not merely the words, I love you. Right? Like that. And, you know, yesterday was Valentine's Day. That's true. Well, I wrote this in here. It's not hallmark movies or romance novels. [00:33:34] (34 seconds) #LoveIsNotJustRomance

Not keeping records of being wronged. Oh, somebody wronged you, and you're keeping a record of it. You keep bringing it up. You keep bringing it up. Or they don't bring it up. It just sits in there and just goes, and that person, they they you know, they're just you know, whatever. I'm not gonna say anything. But, you know, you're holding that record against them. No. No. No. [00:14:46] (23 seconds) #ForgiveDontRecord

So here's what we have to ask ourself. Is my faith producing tenderness? I hope so. But, you know, it tells us to be tender in the in the New Living Translation. So is my faith producing that? Is my hope producing patience? Oh. Well, if I'm impatient, maybe I need to relook at my hope. Amen. Is my theology producing compassion? [00:30:42] (31 seconds) #FaithThatCreatesTenderness

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And the Greatest of These - part 3