I have shared this with some of you before, so forgive me for being repititious if you have already heard it.  One of the greatest revelations to scripture that the Lord ever wrapped around my brain had to do with love.  We read in I Cor. 13:13, "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."  Why is love the greatest?  "Without faith it is impossible to please God" (Heb. 11:6a).  "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure" (Heb. 6:19a). Why love above that?  

If we view sin in all its manifestations and examine it closely, we can see that all sin is rooted in pride.  Lust, greed, cheating, lieing, gluttony, stealing, anger, wrath, self-centeredness, sorcery, false witness, etc.--all have their beginnings in pride.  In fact, the first sin of which we are aware, the challenge of Lucifer that got him thrown out of heaven with all his followers, was the sin of pride.

So what does this have to do with love?  Pride focuses inward.  Pride is about "me."  Love focuses outward.  Love is about others.  That makes love, in effect, the "anti-pride!"--the force by which sin is defeated!  It is because of love that Christ came into the world and gave up his life for His friends--us--because He loved us enough that He didn't want eternity without us. 

We serve an awesome God who gave up heaven to come into a sinful earth to get us.  As we learn to love one another, we are conformed more into the image of our Abba, Daddy.  "Righteous Father, though the world does not know You, I know You, and they know that You have sent me.  I have made You known to them, and will continue to make You known to in order that the love You have for me may be in them and that I, myself, may be in them" (John 17:25-26). 

Just a thought:  When you put on your armor of God each morning, love should be your underwear.

Blessings,
Beverly