Faith, Hope, and Love

“And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13

Faith, hope, and love I often wondered about these three. They all seemed so docile and personal. Depending on where I place my hope, faith and love these things could lead to selfishness and self-righteousness.

This past Sunday at church our pastor spoke on 1 Thessalonians 1:3 and this same triad – faith, hope, and love – was mentioned.

We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

So our faith needs to produce work – service of some kind. Not only in our church in teaching Bible Studies and Sunday School classes, but also in living our faith day-to-day. Choosing to tell the truth when it may cost you a friend or your job. Being honest in paying your taxes.

Love prompts labor – serious hard labor. I think of helping build a house for those without, serving food to hundreds of homeless, making a child in foster care feel loved. When we serve other people and are prompted by God's love, we labor for them in love. Not in bad attitude and sarcastic words.

Endurance that comes from hope. Have we forgotten Jesus is coming again? We may be in the middle of the battle, but do we know who wins? Jesus wins. He is our hope and when we remember Jesus wins, our hope inspires endurance to run the race of Christianity and to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.

Faith, hope, and love are more than just docile emotions. They are motivators that will drive us straight to the heart of God, if we let them.

Father God help us to allow Your Spirit to use the gifts You gave us of faith, love, and hope to inspire us to work, labor, and endure for Your glory and honor.

Angela Mackey

Author and Speaker

Angela is a stumbling woman in need of God’s scandalous grace. Through faith in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, she bears the name Christian. She speaks and writes to make much of this God, His only Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit who lives in her. She graduated college with a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing and is a Registered Nurse. She also obtained her Masters of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies through Knox Theological Seminary.