'And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.' Wonderful as our faith is, it will be of no further value when we stand in the very presence of God. Necessary as hope is in a world where we need every source of courage we can find, it is of no further application in the age to come. But there is no replacement for love. Love is the essence of the life of the age to come. And it is the element in our life here and now that already brings us most certainly into the presence of that new and blessed age.
-- L. William Countryman (1941- ), Episcopal priest and professor of Biblical Studies, from Calling on the Spirit in Unsettling Times: Anglican Present and Future, 2012, p. 16.
Scriptural reference: 1 Corinthians 13:13
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