Translation
But now, there remains these three things – faith,
Go to footnote numberhope,
Go to footnote numberand sacrificial love.
Go to footnote numberHowever, the greatest of these [is] sacrificial love.
Paraphrase
But, after all the lesser things are stripped away, there are three characteristics of our daily life with God that should remain because they are the most important; they are: the ability to act with complete trust in God, the ability to act with joyful and confident expectation that God will do what He said He would do, and the ability to put others first and choose to act sacrificially in order to seek what is best for them. However, the most important of these important characteristics is self-sacrificing love.
Footnotes
1
Faith primarily means “to be persuaded.” It also means “to be convinced, confident” and then to act on that persuasion with “trust and fidelity.”
2
Hope has the basic meaning of “expectation of what is sure.” It is “the joyful and confident expectation of God doing what He said He would do.” It can also be expressed with the words “anticipation, confidence, and trust.”
3
This is the kind of love that sees something in others worth investing in, even if no one else sees it. It is willing to act in a self-sacrificing manner in order to help the other person. It is the giving kind of love; it seeks the good of others without emotion and without wanting anything in return.
DON'T EXCEL AT DOING THINGS THE WRONG WAY
Some of the Corinthians had become experts at doing things the wrong way.
They quarreled over spiritual gifts which should be used to help others.
They cared more about themselves and how they appeared in the eyes of other, than caring about how others were doing.
They prioritized the temporal.
They acted childishly.
WHAT ABOUT US?
Do we sometimes get things backwards too?
Do we quarrel about unimportant things?
Do we care more about ourselves than others?
Do we prioritize the temporal instead of the eternal?
Do we act childishly?