The Most Excellent Way - Grit & Grace
I’ve been dragging my feet with this post for weeks. At first I thought it was just the timing of it and how this time of year tends to bring out the procrastinating foot-dragger in me. The more I got to thinking about it, the more I realized that maybe, just maybe, there’s some nostalgic “I don’t want this to end” kind of thing going on. I mean, this post kind of marks the end of an era. What started as a yearlong word study, plumbing the depths of what “love” means according to the popular scripture verses that everyone associates with the word, has become so much more. There’s a part of me that doesn’t want it to end. Love is the most excellent way, so I’m thinking in certain ways, it shouldn’t really have to end.
If love is the most excellent way, then love should be on every day’s to-do list. This “study of love” should be a lifelong pursuit.
A well-known trio.
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV
Why are faith and hope suddenly added to the mix in this final verse? I did a little digging, and it turns out that faith, hope, and love are a well-known trio for Paul.
- “We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 1:3
- “But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” 1 Thessalonians 5:8
- “For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.” Galatians 5:5-6
- “…since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; because of the hope laid up for you in heaven…” Colossians 1:4-5
These three words seem to sum up what it means to live life as a follower of Jesus. With faith in God, I can trust him to forgive and accept me through Christ’s sacrifice on my behalf. It’s something that I can’t see (or not see fully, like a reflection in a mirror), but this faith allows me to trust in God’s goodness and mercy. Hope for the future that Christ guarantees through his resurrection and the gift of the Spirit. That hope reminds me that I’m on the way home, face to face with God. I pray for hope often. Love for God and one another is how my life of faith is lived out here on earth, and that love continues on into eternity. It always remains, and never comes to an end.
This life of love I’m called to needs a whole lot of faith and hope.
The greatest of these.
Paul goes into some pretty specific detail about what I sound like, what I am, and what I have without the most excellent way of love. All that love is, and all that love isn’t, along with all the things love bears, believes, hopes, and endures. And to top it all off, love never ends. It’s only fitting that Paul chooses to conclude his argument with this verse.
The Greek word used for love in this verse is agape, with that final e pronounced with the long a sound. It means “the love of God for man and of man for God” and “the highest form of love.” It typically refers to divine love.
Speaking of that long a sound, I’ve got a fun word nerd fact: agape has another meaning when you pronounce that second syllable with the long a in ape. It’s an English word that means wide open, or to be in a state of wonder. How cool is it that the same word that means love also means wide open, especially with surprise or wonder! I think there’s a metaphor in there somewhere.
The divine love of God bursts wide open for me, and then I get to imperfectly reflect it back to him and others. The highest form of love. It leaves me in a perpetual state of wonder.
I’m reminded once again why love isn’t like the gifts. Love begins and ends with the divine. Alpha and Omega. It is for now, and also forever. That’s why love is truly the greatest. The most excellent way.
Becky is a Miami native, and has lived here all of her life. Married to her husband for over 20 years, they lead a very active lifestyle along with their three teenagers and Riley, their rescue dog. Becky loves to teach, and has had the awesome privilege of home educating her children for over twelve years. When not teaching academics, Becky loves to equip, encourage, and empower women through the teaching of her group fitness classes. Becky and her husband lead various ministries, and their family loves to serve the community through the countless opportunities provided over the past twenty years+ in their local church. She enjoys filling her “free” time with reading, writing, watching movies, and just spending time with the family. Becky has a passion for living her life with grit and grace, and encouraging others to do the same.
