First Corinthians 13:13

First Corinthians 13:13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

There is no greater love than the love of a friend who would die willingly for a friend, that is that they would lay down their life for another (John 15:13). Most would die for their spouse or children, but who among us would die for their enemy (Rom. 5:8)? 

If it wasn’t for God’s love, we’d still be in our sins. It took the perfect sacrifice to forgive those who are imperfect. None of us are good (Rom. 3:10), and every one of us has fallen short of God’s glory (Rom. 3:23), but God’s goodness led us to repentance (Rom. 2:4).

Paul ranked faith, hope, and love and declared under the inspiration of God that love is the greatest of all these by far (1 Cor. 13:13). Why is love the greatest? It not only saved us from eternal death (John 3:16), but love is patient, kind, not boastful, not arrogant, not rude, not resentful and doesn’t insist on getting its own way (1 Cor. 13:4-5). 

Lord, please show me how to live this out. All I do should be for YOU. 

I pray for Lily during this exam week. She is Your child before she is mine. I thank You for her!

I pray Isabel, for the situation with the newspaper. I pray for Jamie L, that she would...get her act together? No, I pray that You would bless their classroom, and show me how to raise Isabel to be a blessing to all people.

I pray for Lee at work, that You would bless him and all the people he works with, and that his job would be secure.

I pray for Brittany Snow, and for sweet Peyton. I pray for comfort and peace in knowing that You are always in control. This is a wicked world, and death is one of the consequences of the battles of sin and Satan. I pray that You would show me the way forward in comforting those close to the situation.

In Your son's name I pray,

Amen