1 Corinthians 13:13
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
When God says that the greatest of these is charity, He is not saying that the other two things are unimportant. Rather, God is saying that charity is the most important thing a believer must instill in their lives so that the other two things are used properly. Let us look at these three things and why charity is the greatest of them.
The first is faith. Faith is critical to the Christian life. Hebrews 11:6 reminds us, But without faith it is impossible to please him:… It is interesting that God says that charity is greater than faith, because you cannot please God without faith, but charity is still greater. When you study the life of Christ, you will see that He mentions faith quite often. The life of faith is critical to your Christian walk because it you to continually move forward instead of becoming stagnant in your Christian life. However, though faith is critical to your Christian walk, God says that charity is the greatest.
The second thing God mentions is hope. Hope is what causes us never to give up on people. Hope is the belief that Christ died, was buried, and rose again. 1 Corinthians 15:19 says, If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. Paul said to only have hope that Christ died, was buried, and rose again would make a miserable. There is a hope that we all have, and that hope is that Jesus will come again. Titus 2:13 reminds us of this when it says, Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; If we lose hope in Christ’s payment for our sin and His imminent return, and we lose hope that people will change, we are the most miserable of all people. However, God says that charity is still greater than hope.
If charity is so great, what is charity? Charity is invested love. Charity is greater than love because it puts love into action by investing itself in others. For instance, God loved the world, but charity sent His Son to the world to save the world. Jesus loved the world and wanted the world to be saved, but charity caused Jesus to leave Heaven and invested His life so the world could be saved. The Holy Spirit loved the world that He gave power to Christ on earth, but He invests His love in the lost to convict them of their lost condition, and into the saved by living in them until they go to Heaven.
Charity is the greatest of these three things because charity gives them purpose. Charity is what keeps you from using people to build your work. Charity causes you to use your work to build your people. This is where faith comes in. Faith believes in the miraculous and attempts it, but charity keeps you from doing faith works to build your ministry, but rather uses faith works to build those in whom you have invested your love. Charity gives a purpose for faith. Charity gives a purpose for hope. When you lose hope that Christ can save a lost person, you will give up on them. However, charity tells you that you have invested too much in that person to give up on them.
My friend, if you will invest your life in others, you will find that you will never stop attempting faith works, and you will never give up on any person. Let me ask: who have you invested your life in? If you don't invest your life in others, you will stop hoping that others will change, and you will stop attempting great works of faith.
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