LOVE IS ESSENTIAL - 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Of the great Biblical mandates for the believer - faith, hope and love - the greatest is love; i. e. sacrificial, unconditional, unselfish agape love. In this sermon you will hear some of the qualities of each and how they work together as well as why love is the superior of the three.

The relentless love of God is practised in our lives as He enables us to silently bear, faithfully believe, actively hope and continually endure - all things - for the sake of those we love. This is divine love that never dies.

An often overlooked characteristic of love is that it always looks for the best in those who are being loved. This is a key to rightly relating to those in our lives who are hard to love. Our prayer is that this message will help increase the ministry of reconciliation where it is needed.

True love is humble in that it does not boast or manifest pride; nor does it seek to create envy in the hearts of others. True love humbles us in that it moves us to serve others, even if it means stooping down like Jesus did to meet the needs of the lowly ones; like us.

Genuine love is continually wanting what is best for others, which is the remedy to envy. The answer to e-N-V-y is a New View that always looks for the best in others and looks out for the best for others.

While patience is love's protection against negative reactions to distress, kindness is love's proactive response to opportunities for helping another's needs to be met or their distresses be eased. This teaching concludes with Holy Communion during a time of reflecting on God's covenant kindness toward us.

While it has been rightly said that patience is where love meets wisdom; one would be wiser still to increase the strength of their love through prayer - and receiving prayer - when needing patience, as well as to read the Bible and identify with the sufferings of Christ; including keeping in mind the joy set before us and the reasons we - as New Testament believers - are all predestined to be conformed to Christ's image.

Genuine love is greater than spiritual gifts, but they are our tools for communicating God's love. Therefore, while God's love is emphasized as the priority, spiritual gifts should not be minimized, because they are gifts of love.