The series we are studying is based on the statement, "And now abide faith, hope, and love, these three, and the greatest of these is love" (1Co 13:13). Love abides in the cross of Christ; faith abides in the counsel of Christ; hope abides in the coming of Christ.

To Know the Love of Christ (Part 2)

1 Christ’s love may be known in his cross

and in the knowledge of his cross we find love

We consider it an act of supreme love when someone lays down their life for a friend. Jesus laid down his life for those who were not his friends, that they might become his friends.

How well do you know the crucified Lord? What does his cross mean to you? In the rush of daily life, do you pause to think of your dying Saviour? In church, as your body goes through the motions of eating and drinking the Lord's Supper, whereabouts is your mind? Is your mind "on that hill far away"? Or is it, instead, far away from that hill?

The reason that I urge you to consider the cross of Christ, is that this engenders in you a love for Christ. This begins a spiritual spiral which ascends from strength to strength. In the cross you see Christ's true love for you, and you are led to reciprocate that love. As your love for him grows, you come to understand and appreciate his love for you more and more.

We are not talking about a morbid obsession with the cross, which some people have such that they develop "stigmata" --wound marks on their bodies in semblance of the wounds of Christ. Our thoughts of the cross should centre upon the love behind the blood and the pain. That love is a soul-healing love.

The purpose of the cross was to remove our guilt and to restore our worthiness. To know the love of Christ crucified, is to become not physically wounded, but spiritually whole. We are cleansed in the blood of Jesus, warmly embraced and fully reconciled in the family of God's love.

In the cross of Christ we find a basis for our love of Christ, through which we build a deep comprehension of his love. But we remember that whilst love is the greater of the three, we live in faith, hope, and love. In the other two points of this lesson, we see how faith and hope join with love.

2 Christ’s love may be known in his counsel

and in the knowledge of his counsel we find faith

The counsel of Christ brings consolation. Paul spoke of the "encouragement in Christ" and "the consolation of love" (Php 2:1) . The prophet Isaiah, in chapter 9, tells of the Son to be born, whose name would be called, "Wonderful counsellor..." Truly Christ the Son of Man is a wonderful priest who understands our weaknesses because he became man (Heb 4:15) .

Have you ever suffered some deep hurt, or been close to someone who has? Have you ever come to realise how vulnerable and weak you really are? When everything has gone wrong, and you feel hopeless and abandoned, can you go to Christ? Can you say, "Well, I know the love of Christ. I will run to his arms!" Yes, you can say it. Christ's love is available to you, especially you. But will you know that love? Will you worship Christ as Wonderful Counsellor?

You,of course, know how to approach Christ, and to receive from him the comfort and counsel you need. Through prayer and through reading the scriptures meditatively, the "peace of God" and the "comfort of the scriptures" are gifts for the taking, provided by God's love. (Php 4:6-7; Rom 15:4)

Sometimes we sense a barrier which prevents us from taking comfort from the scriptures and from prayer. This is usually a sense of unworthiness. You need to realise that nobody is ever worthy of Christ's love. Nevertheless, you must open yourself to his love.

Sometimes in new marriages, one of the partners experiences difficulty with the intimacy that is a necessary part of married life. The problem is a lack of trust (or faith) in the other's love. Trusting (having faith in) your partner's love means being willing for the other to see you and address you as you really are.

Do you trust Jesus enough to let him see you and address you as you are? Do you have faith that He will accept you? With such faith, you won't feel the barrier between you and Him anymore.

3 Christ’s love may be known in his coming

and in the knowledge of his coming we find hope

While you can love Christ now, and know his love by faith, there is a moment coming in which you will know the love of Christ in face-to-face reality. That is the moment of rapture when Jesus Christ will personally welcome you with open arms: "Come you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world!" (Mtt 25:34) .

That moment will be truly wonderful, but it will be no surprise. Because you know the love of Christ, you have already "a full assurance of hope until the end" (Heb 6:11) . This hope is part of the spiritual spiral of strength (I call it the DNA of the soul) that we mentioned in the introduction to this lesson.

Peter says that we have been "born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead". He goes on to describe the everlasting inheritance we have in Christ. Then he says, "whom having not seen you love. Though you do not now see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory..." (1Pe 1:3-9) .

May you know the love of Christ in his cross, his counsel, and his coming, and thus grow ever upward in love, faith, and hope in him.

More to this lesson (Part 1)