Paul shares these words with us from what many call the love chapter of the Bible, “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” (1 Corinthians 13:13) I am not sure about you, but I consider the entire Bible and not just one chapter to be about God's love to man. Paul names three critical elements needed in our lives to walk with the Lord and to come to the end God has purposed for us.

Paul lists: “faith, hope, charity” or love as we use the word today. Now please do not misunderstand me I know love is critical in our lives, oh how I need more love in my life, but Paul said, “these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” Paul did not say charity (love) was the greatest, Paul said, of these three charity (love) is the greatest. Please do not think I am saying love is not important in our lives, oh my friend it is critical. As a matter of fact the more love we have the more the faith God speaks to us will operate, because “ . . . faith which worketh by love.” (Galatians 5:6) and hope the middle element is our anchor in God, until we receive the promise of the Father. Without faith and love operating in our lives we will have no need to hope in those precious promises of God. Yes all three are critical in our lives, but there is something else more critical needed in our lives if we are going to come into what God has for us and that my friend is truth. When we look at God's love the truth of God's love towards us is dependent on our love toward God. It is true God loved us before we love Him, “We love him, because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19 ), but God is to us what we are to God and out from His love for us we are to love Him the more. In other words, for those who love God, His love towards them is mercy, forgiveness, long-suffering, and grace all of the things we desire God to be to us, but for those who do not love God those who refuse to except His plan of salvation, through His Son Jesus Christ, His love towards them is judgment, wrath, and punishment. Always remember when we turn from grace we are turning towards judgment. This is the whole counsel of God's love. God's intention towards us is to love Him with all of our heart so that we may freely receive of His mercy, forgiveness, long-suffering, and grace, but whether we do or not is not up to God, but up to us. It is like when God speaks to us His speaking is His intention oh He wants to see it happen in our lives, but whether it does or not is not up to God but up to us; based on our willingness to walk in obedience to His word, thus meeting His condition which enables us to receive what God has spoken?

Jesus in the book of John shares critical insight into this essential element called truth “ Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32) Here Jesus brings into the spiritual realm the concept of “disciples indeed” being linked to continuing in His word. Now please understand Jesus was not talking about the Bible for it has not been written yet. Jesus was talking about such words as, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3) and all of the other wonderful kingdom attitudes (Beatitudes) He spoke. Then in verse 32, Jesus makes the connection; being a disciple has to do with knowing the truth and if you know the truth it (the truth) will make you free. Being a disciple happens when we continue in the things He has spoken to us, in the things we know that are right to do and say. For example, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:35) It is right to have love for all men, not just Christians, and when we continue in this truth to, “have love one to another,” we will be His disciples not only in word, but indeed. Continuing in His word brings us to the truth. The issue is not how much love, humility, and humbleness we have, but how much truth have we learned through God's dealings and judgments in our lives? Many people say they are suffering for God, well suffering to suffer does nothing unless we learn the lessons God desires to teach us through the suffering. Make no mistake servant hood is linked with suffering, this was true in Jesus' life and is the servant greater then the Master? And please notice, “ and the truth shall make you free.” Truth is the hammer that beats our thoughts, intentions, and motives into submission. There is a process of God we call holiness whereby God's truth is worked into our lives and we are made free from this world and its trappings. We then have the ability in God to move and function with Him as He has purposed for our lives. How can we move with God if we have not been made free? If we are bound in areas in our lives that are not truthful, how can we flow with the Spirit of God? Truth is the measuring stick God uses to measure our spiritual growth and maturity. How we handle truth (and not how long we can speak in tongues, pray, or even how much money we give to the church) is the mark of spiritual maturity in our lives. Do we tell the truth? Can we recognize the truth when we hear it? The last time we were not truthful, but now confronted with the same problem we tell the truth and grow beyond that place of untruthfulness, that place of weakness and loss in God. As we can see freedom in God comes from knowing the truth and then allowing the truth to make us free. My friend this thought is liberating, freedom in God comes from knowing the truth. You know there is something about truth, we know it when we hear it. It kicks us in the stomach and brings us to our knees before God. Of course the greatest truth we can ever learn is how much we need God in our lives. We must see the truth for the need of God's power and ability in our lives if God is going to be able to effect a change in our thinking and heart. We must be able to see the truth of who we are without God in our lives. We must see the truth of the damage sin has worked in our lives and in every relationship we enter in. My friend for some Christians the truth is a very painful awareness in their lives, but we must allow God to work in us so that we will be able to know the truth, so the truth will be able to make us free of our self-seeking, self-centeredness, and selfish ways. The word “truth” has 235 occurrences in the KJV of the Bible, appears in 222 verses and yet we seem to have a great avoidance to it. I think if the Holy Spirit would have included “truth” in 1 Corinthians 13:13, it would have read and the greatest of these is truth. Faith, hope, and charity are wonderful and oh so needed in our lives, but without truth in operation they are sounding bass or a tinkling cymbal. Brethren let us allow truth to operate in our lives, let us continue in His word, let us come to the truth, and let us allow God's truth to make us free from all of those things that would keep us from coming into what God has purposed and planned for our lives.