I am your Father , and I love you even as I love my Son, Jesus. John 17:23

In 1 Corinthians 13, the Bible clearly proclaims that the God kind of love is everything. Without it, everything that seems valuable to us on the surface… gets reduced to nothing! If we truly expect to be divinely guarded, guided, and governed through this life and beyond, then receiving the love attribute of God is therefore essential.

Henry Drummond wrote one of the best little books ever on this chapter on love entitled, The Greatest Thing in The World.  With a strong background in mathematics and physical science, Drummond takes us into the laboratory as part of his approach. He points to a beam of light that passes through a crystal prism.  What comes out on the other side is a spectrum of colors—red, yellow, blue, violet, orange and all the colors of the rainbow. He then describes how Apostle Paul analyzes love though his inspired intellect to discern a spectrum of love or nine virtues: patience, kindness, generosity, humility, courtesy, unselfishness, good temper, guilelessness and sincerity.

In Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s commentary on 1 Corinthians 13, he provides further depth into understanding the critical nature of God or His Spirit of love.  To sum it up, he puts it this way: patience alone is zero, kindness alone is zero, generosity alone is zero, humility alone is zero, courtesy alone is zero, unselfishness alone is zero, good temper alone is zero, guilelessness alone is zero and sincerity alone is also zero.  Nine zeros add up to nothing. But, if we assign the number “1” to God’s brand of love and place it at the forefront of the string of zeros, then every zero suddenly takes on meaning and gains value. In this simple example, love is the primary integer that is needed for anything to matter.

Studying God’s love by analysis and logic certainly has its place.  Far more convincing, however, is our inner conviction that God is love, He is who He says He is, and we can have an intimate Father-child relationship with Him.

As our Spiritual Father, we trust He loves us because He sent His beloved Son, Jesus, to die for our sins.  We believe and celebrate Christ’s victorious sacrifice at the Cross and miraculous resurrection.  We welcome and cherish the presence of His Holy Spirit within our heart as personal Savior and Lord of our life.  We live with anticipation of His help to overcome every circumstance in life—no matter how twisted and impossible and senseless it appears to be.

Family and friends, our Heavenly Father is beyond awesome! To be His perfectly natural and thoroughly practical child is our personal and eternal benefit. It is in this blessed relationship that His glory also has the opportunity to flow through us to impact others. So let’s make the right choice. Stick that “1” before our “zeros” and let His amazing love shine!

1 Cor 13:13; 1Jn 4:8; Heb 11:6; 2 Cor 6:18