This morning I was reading the first chapter of Paul’s letter to the Colossians, and I was struck by verses 3-6A, which come under the heading “Thanksgiving and prayer.” Paul says:: “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people- the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. I noticed the references to faith, hope and love, and this struck a cord as it reminded me of a much more well-known passage of scripture. In 1Corrinthians 13 – the famous love chapter, Paul writes: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1Corrinthians 13: 13.)
If I were to ask you to find a verse about faith hope and love, I’m sure many of you would point me to 1Corrinthians 13, but in studying Paul’s writings more closely, I’ve begun to notice that he often put these 3 words together, especially in the opening verses of his letters. Another example can be found in 1Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 2-3, where we find Paul once again giving thanks for the faith of his readers. “We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
So in Paul’s mind, faith hope and love went hand in hand. He doesn’t isolate them from one another or encourage us to focus on one to the detriment of the other 2. Even though he admitted that the greatest gift of all is love, he never seemed to want us to ignore the beautiful benefits of faith and hope as they work hand in hand with love and meld together like the notes of a musical cord.
The following statement may shock you, but it is something I firmly believe. We cannot truly know and appreciate the full depths of love unless we are in a relationship with Jesus. Many non-believers would argue and say that of course they love their families, their friends etc, and I’m not denying that. However, the love I’m talking about is something the Bible defines as Agape love – a love that expects nothing in return. Much of human love is conditional. We love our parents because they’ve taken care of us since the day we were born. In circumstances where that isn’t the case, it might be harder for feelings of love to be felt. We may meet someone we desire to spend the rest of our lives with, and part of that process is falling deeply in-love, but is it easy to go on loving if the person suddenly stops returning your feelings?
The Greek language is far more expressive than English. They had several words for our one word love. For example, they would use a different word to express the love between family members from the romantic love shared by a husband and wife. Yet of all those different words, one stands alone as the highest form of love known to man, and that word is Agape – the unconditional love God has for his children.
When we read in John 3: 16 that God so loved the world that he sent his only son to die in our place so that we who believe in him might have eternal life, the word used for love is Agape. Jesus didn’t come in response to our love. If he’d been waiting for us to love him enough to warrant his death, he’d be waiting for eternity. The Old Testament tells story after story of man loving and obeying God one minute, then falling out with him when something better came along or things weren’t going as he’d hoped.
God’s Agape love is beyond our understanding, but when we become Christians, that love enters into us, and if we allow it, our Saviour will begin helping us to love others in that way. Our love will always be imperfect, but we can have glimpses of true Agape when we know our capacity to love is being taken to a whole new level.
This is the love Paul refers to as part of his trio, and this is why it’s identified as the greatest gift of all. But how can it work hand in hand with faith and hope? Let’s consider how these other 2 words fit into the picture.
One of my favourite definitions of the word faith can be found in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1, which says: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” The chapter goes on to commend the so-called heroes of faith who stepped out and obeyed God’s will for their lives even when it didn’t make sense. Our Christian walk must begin with faith, because the start point is believing God exists, even though we can’t see him. It is believing that a totally perfect Saviour loved us enough to come into this dark sinful world and give his life in atonement for our sins. The perfect was made imperfect. He who knew no sin became sin so he could reconcile us to a holy God. It takes faith to believe all that, especially when the world around us tells us it’s nonsense or mind over matter – a nice story to tell children but totally irrelevant for our adult lives.
That’s where hope comes in. Going back to Hebrews 11 verse 1, we were told that faith is confidence in what we hope for. Hope is a huge part of our Christian lives, and it must be there from the beginning. WE aren’t hoping in the way the world hopes – for a good life, lots of money in the bank, a happy family etc. I’m not saying we shouldn’t hope for these things, but the hope we’re referring to here is the hope of eternity. It’s the hope Jesus died to give us. It’s an understanding that this world isn’t all there is. We can get so caught up in all its demands that we start becoming to earthly minded, and we can easily take our eyes off the hope of eternity. This world is not our home, and when our work here is done, we’re either going to one place or another, depending on whether we’ve accepted by faith that we need a Saviour.
As our faith grows, our love will deepen, and we will open ourselves up to more of God’s agape – allowing us to love even the most difficult people. All this will spring from the hope stored up for us in heaven. We will want as many people as possible to share in that hope of eternity, and God will give us the love to reach out to them with the good news. We will feel compelled to put our all into whatever Kingdom work God has gifted us to do, but it will be a labour of love rather than a burden. We are spurred on by our faith, and when it gets hard, we will endure because we have our hope to inspire us.
Faith, Hope and love. They are all gifts from our Father, and equally to be desired, cherished and cultivated.