Faith, Hope and Love

 Faith, Hope and Love

April 16, 2025

1 Corinthians 13:12-13 (NASB95) 

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Hebrews 11:1-7 (NASB95)

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval. 3 By faith weunderstand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. 7 By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

Romans 8:24,25 (NASB95)

24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we donot see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Faith, Hope and Love. Like it says in Corinthians, now we only see dimly so I can’t claim to understand faith, hope and love. The best I can recommend is to read the passages above and pray for understanding. I Corinthians1 13 is the best description of love in the Bible and Hebrews 11 is the definitive chapter on faith. We talked some about hope yesterday, and there is more in these references in Hebrews and Romans.

For the most part I’ll leave the discussion of love to I Corinthians 13. I will note though that Biblical, agape love is quite different from the modern concept of love which is more based on emotions that on actions. In the Bible, love is putting someone else before yourself and doing whatever is required for their benefit, despite the cost to yourself. This kind of love is greater than faith and hope.

“Faith is the assurance(substance) of things hoped for” according to Hebrews. Watchman Nee translates this as “Faith is the substantiating of things hoped for.” He explains that hope is for something in the future, which you would like to happen, but you don’t see. When you have faith, this hope becomes substantial or real. It is like it has already happened, but you just can’t see it yet. His example of this is colors. Colors are real things, but if you close your eyes they are not real to you. But if you remember what the colors look like and imagine the color of the object before you, you can substantiate the color, or make it real in your mind. Then when you open your eyes, the reality of the color will match if you have imagined correctly. The color was always real, but faith substantiated it so that it became real in your life. Thus faith takes a promise, or a hope, and makes it real so that you know that you will see it one day.

Romans then explains that hope that is seen is not hope. So hope is less substantial than faith. But hope is still essential for life. If we are without hope we have no reason to live. The hopeless live in despair. Hope for tomorrow gives us something to eagerly wait for. In fact, as we pointed out yesterday, in the Hebrew hope and waiting are the same word. We wait on the Lord, or we hope in the Lord were the same things to the Hebrews. Hoping and waiting give us a reason to praise the Lord and to look forward to all the great things that He has in store for us, even before we see what they are. When I look back on my life, I remember many wonderful things that the Lord has done for me that were even beyond the things that I hoped for when I was a youth. The Lord always exceeds our hopes and dreams when we put our future in His hands.

So Faith, Hope and Love; three essential elements of life; As necessary as air, water and food. So hope in the Lord and wait for His promises. Have faith in His saving power and mercy and love for us. And love one another as He has loved us. Do those three things and you won’t go far wrong.