“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
The Vine
Paul closes his famous chapter on love by ranking it above even faith and hope, two virtues scripture elsewhere treats as central to the entire Christian life. This is a striking claim, not diminishing faith or hope, but naming love as somehow greater still, the virtue that, Paul suggests, abides longest and matters most.
This is worth applying directly to what your marriage is ultimately for, beyond companionship, beyond covenant structure, beyond even the fruit of children or shared life. At the very center, what abides, what the whole marriage is ultimately measured by, is charity, love itself, chosen and practiced, the way this entire chapter has described it.
Notice abideth, present tense, ongoing. This is not love as a memory of how things once felt, or a hope for how things might someday feel again, but love actually abiding, present tense, in the marriage as it currently stands, today, chosen again regardless of how the feelings happen to align with the choice.
As this final movement nears its close, return to this simplest, largest claim. Whatever else your marriage has been this month, this year, across however many years, let charity be what abides at its center, the greatest of these, chosen today, in this exact ordinary moment, as much as on your wedding day.
Tend the Vine
- Name what has been abiding at the center of your marriage lately: charity, or something lesser.
- Choose one act of genuine charity today, regardless of current feeling.
- Thank God that love, not merely feeling, is what he calls you to and what genuinely abides.
Prayer
Lord, let charity abide at the center of our marriage today, the greatest of these, chosen again regardless of feeling, the way you have called me to love. Amen.
Carry this today
Charity abides. Let it be what your marriage is ultimately known by.