....and the greatest of these is love!

“And now abide faith, hope love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)I have met so many people who have a romantic view of love. When in fact real love is much deeper than those feelings. Genuine love, though idealistic, summons the very best motives and noblest actions from the depths of our hearts, and sometimes it calls for the most gut-wrenching sacrifices.Love is the active pursuit of the best for another person.It involves our emotions, wills, and energy. It notices needs with clear-eyed perceptions and refuses to walk away. Paul’s multifaceted description of love is often read at weddings, and appropriately so, because the stresses and conflicts inherent in two individuals becoming one require objectivity, honesty, forgiveness, patience, and kindness -- in other words, authentic love.This kind of love, though , is also a necessity when a toddler asks the 396th question of the day, when a teenager turns her back on al she believed in, and when a friend disappoints us.Genuine love can be praised in a beautiful song, but it comes to live in the cauldron of painful experiences. There, we find out what we’re really made of. There, we discover how selfish we really are, and we choose to trust God to transform us. And there, as we make even feeble attempts to love others, we experience God’s love more deeply than ever before.Jesus said, “Love thy neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39) With these words Jesus gave us the answer for how our human society was intended to function. In fact the only way that the human community will ever realize the greatest good is by loving each other.I can only imagine what it might be like to live in a kingdom where everyone sought the best for one another. That, I imagine is the Kingdom of God.Maybe today, you and I could at least attempt to love one another and love our neighbor as ourselves.What do you think?