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 And now faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. -1 Corinthians 13:13  

This morning, I was listening to the Beatles on Spotify, and so of course now I have “All You Need is Love” stuck in my head.

There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done.  Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung. Nothing you can say, but you can learn how to play the game.  It’s easy. All you need is love!  

Love conquers all.   

I’m not sure that the apostle Paul would put it quite the same way that John Lennon and Paul McCartney did, but Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians seems to agree with that sentiment.  “Love never ends.” Paul writes.  Even when everything else in all creation fades away, love will remain.  

Other parts of the Bible agree with this.  1 John goes as far as to say that “God is love.”  Maybe that helps explain Paul’s concluding thought on love, “Now, faith, hope and love abide and the greatest of these is love.”   

Why is love greater than faith and hope?  Perhaps it’s because God is love.   

One of my seminary professors suggested to our class once that it’s because love is the only thing that survives after we die.  It makes a logical kind of sense.  Why would you need faith and hope in heaven?  You don’t need to have faith and hope in something that is right in front of you.  Love is what will be left.  

But I’m not convinced that’s the whole story.  Love is the greatest because it’s through love, that God saves us (John 3:16).  And it’s through that act of love, that we know what true love is.