The Greatest of These

The Apostle Paul loved the people God gave him to minister to. More than once he told them they were his joy. "but we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire. Therefore we wanted to come to you--even I, Paul, time and again--but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy" (1 Thessalonians 2:17-19). The Christian life is all about loving God and loving people, and the great Apostle Paul seems to have been so filled with love to all the ones he preached to. He was persecuted for preaching to them "that they may be saved" (verse 16), but that was his mission, his calling, to preach to people "that they may be saved." And this is our mission too, as foreigners in this world, to love people enough to tell them the truth, and "make disciples." All of us have our part. "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase," Paul said (1 Corinthians 3:6). "So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. "For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise masterbuilder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear, for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet as through fire"(1 Corinthians 3:6-15." It's always seemed to me that my part in the Kingdom of God was about forming relationships, and that that is where God is working--in me and in this world. There are things that we are gifted to do, but the work is about building the Kingdom. Everything else is secondary. There is quite a bit of evidence in Scripture for God's desire for us to love one another. John wrote in 1 John 4:20, IF someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also" (1 John 4:20-21). We are not long here, therefore we must make good use of our time. John also wrote in John 13:35, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." He didn't say, "If you can preach the house afire," or "If you have memorized the entire book of John." No, he said, "If you have love for one another." And in the concluding lines of the 13th letter to the Corinthians, we read in verse 13, "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13). And that is where we all need to learn to live, "The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace" (Numbers 6:24-26).