Destination: Love

I have to admit something to you, dear reader, at the outset of this essay and in the name of "full disclosure".  Love is topic about which I have very little knowledge and about which I certainly have no special expertise.  This essay is the third installment in a series based on the three virtues listed by the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 13:13.  These virtues, you may remember, are faith, hope, and love.  On matters of faith, I have some experience–enough to write cogently on the issue, at least.  And in the area of hope; I would say that I have partaken on occasion in this blessed thing (although less than anyone might like to...I usually only recognize that I'd been experiencing hope when it is disappointed).

But love is entirely a new thing.  

In my last essay concerning hope, I wrote that faith guides, hope fuels, and love acts.  What I withhold from the reader in that statement is Paul's commentary on these three things.  I will quote the verse to you in its entirety: "And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love.  But the greatest of these is love." (NIV)

This verse is on the tail end of what we have come to call the "Love Chapter" of the Bible.  Of course, there are many areas in Scripture that talk about love, but this chapter stands out ahead of the rest.  This chapter is Paul breaking out in poetic verse about the nature of this thing called "love"–this great mystery.  Dear reader, what you may not realize from reading this verse in isolation is that it is poetry.

Don't worry if you can't see it; it wasn't written in English originally.  There is no rhyme to be heard here–although both sentences do end in love...I don't think that's a real rhyme though.  No, no...the device used in this particular verse is even more cunning and genius, and it is a beautiful sketch of what love really means.

Paul provides us here with a list of three virtues with which we are all now thoroughly familiar.  For those of you who aren't familiar with linguistics of any kind, here is a crash course in syntax.  Certain languages use different means to identify parts of speech, i.e., subjects, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, etc.  In English (as well as Spanish, French, Italian, German, etc) we use the order of the words to help identify how they function in the sentence.  Note how important the difference between the sentence, "Bob hit the ball," and, "The ball hit Bob," is.  In Greek, however, it is the ending of the words that indicate how that word is to be interpreted (similar to the way we might say, "I hit," vs. "Bob hits.").

If this grammar lesson is boring you, be patient because it comes back around in a huge way.  In the Greek language in which the book of Corinthians was written, the most important words are put at the beginning of the sentence (kind of like bold letters are to us).  Now that we understand that principle, take careful notice of how Paul has assembled the list.

Faith................Hope..................Love.

Despite the fact that love is the greatest element on the list, it is in the least position.  Paul put grammar to work to paint a picture of love in its natural habitat.

For many in the church, faith is seen as the leverage whereby one gains notoriety, popularity, health, or wealth.  It can indeed procure these things for you if you wish, but not as a matter of God's work, mind you.  Similarly, more often than not we cultivate hope in our lives for the things that will bring us success or keep us from pain, and we are just as often disappointed.  

But love gives us a new target for these two great sources of human strength.  If we are to be the greatest, we must become the least.  These are the teachings of the Jesus whom the church claims to worship.  Yet, how often do we distort faith, hope, trust, patience, or any of the other gifts that God has given us to serve our needs and feed our fragile egos?  Do we even realize that the God whom we serve stands as a witness to all eternity of the ultimate need to come down from our lofty heights and be willing to suffer anything for the sake of another?

Even as I write this, I stand condemned of failing God in this way.  I, just like so many of you, manipulate the Scripture or the voice of God into something more comfortable and decidedly less revolutionary.  My prayer in sharing this with you is that we would all change course and run to the end of this list, seeking our greatness in our tender and passionate desire to see others succeed beyond ourselves.  This is the only Kingdom that Christ is coming to serve and to reign over.  When the time comes, I'd like to at least have an application worth submitting for my citizenship there.