Love
The Greeks had four words that translate into English as “love”. “Storge” is the kind of fondness that exist naturally between family members or people who find themselves thrown together by chance. “Phileo” is best described as friendship. “Eros” is romantic love. “Agape” is unconditional love; as such it is the highest form of love, it is the love of God, and it is the word used in this passage.
Love is immeasurably more important than any and all spiritual gifts. Love is immeasurably more important that having great faith. Love is immeasurably more important than making great sacrifices for any other motive. This simply means that many of the qualities we admire and follow after in the church are inferior to the one quality that is in such rare supply.
In verses four through seven Paul describes how this love manifests. I’m not going to go into a detailed investigation of this wonderful list except to say that nothing on this list is an emotion. Also, nothing on this list is particularly hard. Everything on this list is a choice. You can choose to do each one of these things on the list.
Love is greater than faith or hope. So there! Love is the power that held Christ on the cross. Love never fails. I guess that makes love a sure thing. If you really want to follow Christ, if you really want to live a life that counts, this is where you start...and end.
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