Love is the most abiding grace. This will stay with us when other graces take their farewell. In heaven we shall need no repentance, because we shall have no sin. In heaven we shall not need patience, because there will be no affliction. In heaven we shall need no faith because faith looks at things unseen (Heb. xi. 1). But then we shall see God face to face; and where there is vision, there is no need of faith.
But when the other graces are out of date, love continues; and in this sense the apostle says that love is greater than faith, because it abides the longest." Charity never faileth" (1 Cor. xiii. 8). Faith is the staff we walk with in this life." We walk by faith" (2 Cor. v. 7). But we shall leave this staff at heaven's door, and only love shall enter. Thus love carries away the crown from all the other graces. Love is the most long lived grace, it is a blossom of eternity. How should we strive to excel in this grace, which alone shall live with us in heaven, and shall accompany us to the marriage supper of the Lamb! –
--Thomas Watson, "All Things for Good" pg. 96
