I've often thought of love as an emotion but in my journey of faith, I realized it is beyond an emotion but a sacrifice. Using the word LOVE so casually in the past, I feel ashamed. Knowing, understanding and feeling love in its truest, purest form and receiving it first-hand from Jesus Christ--I know I failed miserably in my comprehension of it, was humbled and puzzled how I came to deserve such. The truth is I don't and never will. Yet I received it! This love covered my iniquities, my sins. Like Kari Jobe said in her song, "What love is this?" It is indeed only by His grace.
The fact that Paul, John and Peter stressed in their epistles the importance of love, it is no doubt a priority--"above all", this verse says. Our love for others has to reflect the way God loved the world, giving His only Son to cover your sin and mine, casting them into the depth of the sea (Micah 7:19), remembering them no more (Hebrews 8:12). If this love permeates our innermost, this love will inevitably overflow thus considering others more important than ourselves (Philippians 2:3). A gospel-like love is indeed costly.
The fact that Paul, John and Peter stressed in their epistles the importance of love, it is no doubt a priority--"above all", this verse says. Our love for others has to reflect the way God loved the world, giving His only Son to cover your sin and mine, casting them into the depth of the sea (Micah 7:19), remembering them no more (Hebrews 8:12). If this love permeates our innermost, this love will inevitably overflow thus considering others more important than ourselves (Philippians 2:3). A gospel-like love is indeed costly.