Friday February 16, 2024

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

If faith is the power to live right, love is the right way to live.

Yes, love is, without a doubt, life itself.

God is love, as we know. And God is life. Of us it is said that we are dead until this life of love has been planted within us.

Love is as much a mystery as life itself is. No one can tell what love is.

But it can be experienced. God be praised!

And this is the joy of life. Yes, eternal bliss itself consists in this that in heaven we shall love perfectly, that is, live exclusively in love.

Love expresses itself first, and in its most essential aspect, in our wills. To love is a definite way of willing. As soon as the will begins to function in this manner, then the feeling of happiness is also awakened within us.

Love would live for others. Perfect love knows no other joy than to make others happy.

Only one has lived His life in this way, namely, Jesus.

All the rest of us think instinctively that the meaning of life is to live for oneself, for one’s own happiness, enjoyment, advantage, and comfort. Only after we have experienced the miracle, the miracle of the new birth, does it dawn on us that the meaning of life is to live for others.

And a whole long life lived after this miracle takes place cannot remove the vestiges of our old selfish life. Not until we reach heaven will our old life be completely obliterated. There we too shall say: “My meat is to do the will of God.”

O. Hallesby, God’s Word for Today: A Daily Devotional for the Whole Year, translator Clarence J. Carlsen (Augsburg, 1994)
Scripture for opening text taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.