But now faith, hope, love abide, these three. (1 Corinthians 13:13)
The words “but now” stand out in emphasis. Paul has just talked about future, and past imperfection, and growing up. But concerning the present, various demonstrations are in operation now: believing, confidently expecting, and agape. That’s the life of the believer—we aren’t living in the past, or just looking ahead to the future. We are talking about NOW operations. These are the things we are excited about. And these beliefs and actions go together.
The final sentence of 1 Corinthians 13 says that the greatest of these is love. The greatest is the demonstration of agape. Why is it called the greatest? Consider this:
Being a person of faith is wonderful, and something to strive for. That is, it’s important to be one who trusts God, and believes that He will do what He says, and He is who He says He is.
Being a person of hope is also wonderful and admirable and what we should strive to be. We should be confident in Him who holds the future, and that He has a plan for us, and it’s a good plan. We can’t argue with that.
But our greatest characteristic, the number one thing that marks us should be that we are people who demonstrate the agape described in this chapter.
It is great to have faith, great to have hope, but best to have agape.
Freddy Boswell 