Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Abiding in Faith, Hope and Love...

Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart,
All you who hope in the LORD.—Psalm 31:24

In verses 1, 6, 14, and 19 David tells us where he places his faith (trust)...in the Lord.  In verse 23 he enjoins his readers to love the Lord.  Now in verse 24 he reminds us to find our strength, courage and hope in Him, also.  Faith, hope and love...they go together.  They are where 1 Corinthians 13 tells us to abide.  

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.—1 Corinthians 13:13

Faith, hope and love are often seen together.  I found these cross-reference verses on the BLB...

remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father, (1 Thessalonians 1:3)

 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.(1 Thessalonians 5:8)

For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. (Galatians 5:5-6)

Who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart. (1 Peter 1:21-22)

Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. (Colossians 1:4-5)

For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 1:12-13)

As Christians, as we sojourn here, these three are to be our foundation...they are to be where we live and what we pursue.  In heaven faith and hope will no longer be needed because they will have fulfilled their purpose. Love, however, is eternal. In heaven, love continues.  We will love the Lord and love each other. Our God IS faithful, but faith, in the sense that we as human beings need to exercise faith, is not an attribute of God.  Similarly, hope is also not an attribute of God because God knows all and is in sovereign control of all things. Love, however, is of God...God embodies love and therefore, it is the greatest. (1 John 4:7)

Beloved, abide in the love of God and share it with others.  Oh, that love would be our underlying motive in all that we say and in all that we  do!  Love fulfills the law...love never fails because it is of God and from God. Without love we are nothing....

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.1 Corinthians 13:1-2

Addendum...I really liked this definition of the word for love as used in 1 Corinthians 13 from David Guzik on the BLB.  

“Agape is the fourth word for love. It is a love that loves without changing. It is a self-giving love that gives without demanding or expecting repayment. It is love so great that it can be given to the unlovable or unappealing. It is love that loves even when it is rejected. Agape love gives and loves because it wants to; it does not demand or expect repayment from the love given. It gives because it loves; it does not love in order to receive. According to Alan Redpath, we get our English word agony from agape. “It means the actual absorption of our being in one great passion.” (Redpath) Strictly speaking, agape can’t be defined as “God’s love,” because men are said to agape sin and the world (John 3:19 and 1 John 2:15). But it can be defined as a sacrificial, giving, absorbing kind of love. The word has little to do with emotion; it has much to do with self-denial for the sake of another.”








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