Thursday Thoughts on Faith, Hope, and Love
My mother’s favorite chapter in the Bible was 1 Corinthians 13. I’ve read it a zillion times and I still enjoy reading it. It comforts me in a way that few things can.
Faith-
The Bible has this to say about faith in Hebrews 11:1
It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.
I know that God hears my prayers and I know that His we will answer them. How do I know? Because He tells me He will and because I can look back over my life and see His hand in every good thing that has happened to me.
What are the odds that a girl from Kentucky would go on her first (and only camping trip) to the Florida Keys, camp next to a guy who was with his friends from Michigan, meet each other, date long distance, fall in love and get married? What are the odds that a young girl who said she’d never have children would have five of them and love motherhood? How often do two people wed and stay in love, stay best friends and stay married for over 30 years?
God has been with me every step of the way and I am confident He will see me through.
Hope- I cannot imagine how dismal life would be without hope in Jesus. To think that this is all there is would be so depressing. Not that I’m not happy or appreciative. I am blessed beyond measure, but this life is NOTHING compared to the next. Can you imagine a place where there is no poverty, no tears, no sadness, no sickness? That’s the hope that comforts me!
1 Corinthians 15: 19 And if we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world.
Love- The word love is used so often and in so many ways that we forget how it is really defined.
John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
That’s the meaning of love. That’s the reason we have hope. That’s the root of my faith.
Today my cousin Martha is in Houston getting her battle plan ready to fight one of this world’s biggest enemies: cancer, and while I am praying daily (and nightly too!) I know God has her in the palm of his hand and that my friend is why I am thinking today about faith, hope and love!
Read and be comforted…..
1If I could speak in any language in heaven or on earth F63 but didn’t love others, I would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I knew all the mysteries of the future and knew everything about everything, but didn’t love others, what good would I be? And if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move, without love I would be no good to anybody. 3If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; F64 but if I didn’t love others, I would be of no value whatsoever.
4Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. 6It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
8Love will last forever, but prophecy and speaking in unknown languages F65 and special knowledge will all disappear. 9Now we know only a little, and even the gift of prophecy reveals little! 10But when the end comes, these special gifts will all disappear.
11It’s like this: When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child does. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. F66 All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me now.
13There are three things that will endure—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
