"And now abide faith, hope,love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13
Today we wrap up our study of 1 Corinthians13. I hope you have grown in your knowledge of love and been motivated to pursue accepting God's love so that you are able to walk in it. From here we will begin a study on God's grace but for today we are going to look at what Paul meant when he said, "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." It is important to know that as we grow closer in our relationship with Jesus Christ through accepting God's love, our faith gains momentum and we begin to believe God at His Word. And as our faith grows our ability to find hope in all situations grows too.
Both faith and hope are essential to our Christian lives and they are the identifying traits that set us apart from the world. But while faith and hope are essential Paul makes it very clear in this verse that love is even greater than faith and hope. Why? Because once again Paul is showing us another image of what is eternal and what is temporal. Remember God is love and that means love is eternal. But faith and hope are only temporal gifts from God that will not exist beyond this life on earth.
When we are reunited with Jesus there will be no need for faith or hope. Faith and hope are given to us here on earth so we can stand strong until Christ returns and so we can do what we have been called to do as his disciples. But in order for faith and hope to be in full operation in the believer's life they have to abide together with love. When they do then our lives produce the fruit of the Spirit. Remember what Jesus said in John 15:5-8, ""I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."
So in order for us to mature in becoming steadfast in faith and hope we have to fully embrace God's unconditional love and then obey Him in loving others as we love ourselves. There is no other way for faith and hope to reach maturation! But when we walk in this understanding the love of God in us "believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things." (1 Corinthians 13:7) And that love never fails! Fully embracing the love of God in us gives birth to wisdom, understanding, and knowledge in how we are to operate in the temporal gifts, which include faith and hope, and that leads to a fruit bearing life!
Faith is the essential motivator that empowersus to exercise the other gifts of the Spirit and hope is the essential motivator that empowers us to exercise joy in the present day as we wait for the fulfillment of God's promises. But love is the essential glue that binds both faith and hope together! For example: Abraham's belief in God's lovefor him and his love for God glued him to faith and hope when God told him he would be a father of a great nation; even though he had no son and they had reached old age. Noah's belief in God's love and his love for God glued him to faith and hope when God said he would flood the earth and told him to build the ark and it was 120 years until it came to pass.
Paul and Silas' belief in God's love and their love for God glued them to faith and hope in that prison cell until God shattered the chains and set them free. The disciple's belief in God's love for them and their love for God glued them to faith and hope when they acted on what Jesus told them to do and performed miracles, signs, and wonders. These are just four examples but there are many more to draw from the Bible to show what happens when we accept God's love and believe Him at His Word and then walk in that love. His eternal love flowing out of us puts faith and hope into action and the result is always the same; fruit bearing works that have an eternal effect on the lives of the people we minister to each day.
And it is in accepting God's love and walking in faith and hope where we are able to believe God at His Word when He speaks of His grace and that is where we are going to go next in this study. So many people live a mixed Gospel life that is confusing and confining because they do not understand that God's grace is sufficient and that they are no longer expected to do anything to earn favor in the sight of God. God loves usunconditionally because the conditions to be accepted were all placed on Jesus and nailed to the Cross. You can't think right, speak right, or do right enough in your own strength to earn any favor or blessing from God. Jesus paid the ultimate price of death on a Cross to settle our debt and at the moment of His resurrection that debt was settled and for all who believe in Him we are made righteous at the moment of our salvation.
But that is not what is taught in most churches around the world and that is why there is so much division in the body of Christ and why so many believers are still immature babies who need someone to feed them; instead of being mature adults who feed others. We are going to spend the next several days looking at what happens when love is embraced,faith and hope are exercised, and the grace of God is accepted. May we all grow together in wisdom and knowledge as the Holy Spirit teaches us about God's grace that He gave to us through the sacrifice of His own Son on the Cross.
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