1 Corinthians 13:13
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Love is the greatest because it is the motivation behind all that God does.  He sent His Son out of love, and Jesus died for us out of love.  And He blesses us because He loves us.  He hears us because He loves us and wants to be involved in our lives.  He chastens out of love because He wants us to be sanctified and holy.  Love drives Him to pursue our hearts.  And He is so full of grace and mercy because He is also so full of love.

So may love also be our motivation, and may it be at the heart of all that we do.  May our love for God and others cause us to do things we wouldn’t otherwise want to do or go somewhere we wouldn’t want to go.  May the love produced in us by the Holy Spirit of God drive us forward to a life of service with no grumbling or complaining, not blindly following out of duty, but going simply with thankfulness and holy awe of God’s love and what it led Him to do for us.  May that love that He’s given to us and shown to us so clearly never fail to be evident in our lives every day.

And we reciprocate God’s love to us back to Him when we show that love to others.  His love brought us forgiveness for our sins, so we should be forgiving.  His love was patient with us when we were at our worst, so we should be patient with others.  His love was generous when we deserved nothing good at all, so let us be generous to those around us.  His love was kind when we deserved only wrath, so let us show kindness to other wandering hearts.  His love was gracious when we messed up over and over, so we should have grace for others, too.

We know who we were when God found us and became real to us.  We know how His love has worked in each of us and transformed our hearts.  We can probably imagine what we might have become had His love not settled into our hearts and driven out the darkness.  So may this love send us out to give Him our all, to be used for His honor and glory, to see others experience His love, and to be like our God of love.  Faith is amazing.  Hope is so powerful.  But love cannot be overcome.  It stands strong in the fiercest trials, never failing and growing rather than diminishing.  So may that love implanted within us by our loving Savior produce much for His glory.