1 Corinthians 13:13

'But now abides faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.'

There are in fact three things that, unlike spiritual gifts, are permanent and enduring, continually abiding now and which will abide through the resurrection and beyond, faith, hope and love. Unlike prophecy and knowledge these have become essential parts of what we are ourselves. And unlike them they are abiding, so that we have them now and we will have them in eternity. Faith because it is the channel of our life in Christ and will continue ever more fully when we see Him, for then we will trust Him even more fully than we could ever now think possible; hope because it continually uplifts us now and will, when we see Him in eternity, continue on making the future ever more bright, for, as we hope on, eternity will continue to reveal more and more of what we can never now even begin to comprehend (compare 1 Corinthians 15:19); and love because of what love is, unchanging and eternal, revealed in God and experienced in our own hearts from the moment when we became His, which will reveal more and more to our hearts of what He truly is.

But faith and hope are our response to what God is and what God offers, while love we share with God Himself. Love alone is reciprocal. He too loves, for He is love (1 John 4:8; 1 John 4:16), and we love because He first loved us. So His love reaches out to us and our love reaches out to Him. Thereby do we know each other. Thereby we enter into the heart of God. Thus even of these three love is the greatest for thereby even now we know God in a fuller way than prophecy or knowledge can teach us, and as we continue to grow in love we will continue to know Him more and more. So let love prevail for it is over all and beyond all.