And now abideth faith,
hope, charity (love) these three; but the greatest of these is charity (1
Corinthians 13:13).
Faith, hope and love, are three
important principles revealed to us in the Word. All three of them work
together, but love is revealed as the greatest of the three. Anyone who comes
to Christ immediately learns the value of faith, because faith is imparted to
your spirit when you hear the Gospel. With that faith, you receive the Holy
Spirit, and begin to walk in newness of life.
As you mature spiritually, you
learn something about hope. Hope ministers patience. The more you grow in the
things of God, the more you realize that though your faith can do anything,
some things have to wait. At this stage, you start learning how to trust God.
Trust is the mixture of faith and hope. When the Bible says Abraham believed
God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, he trusted Jehovah with his
life.
The reason love is the greatest
is that love encapsulates both faith and hope. When you walk in love, you walk
in faith and hope. To walk in the greater levels of the anointing of God’s
Spirit, you’d have to understand the power of God’s love, and walk in it.
The Lord Jesus explained
something beautiful about love in Matthew 22:35-38, when a certain lawyer, wanting
to test Him, asked, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the
Law?" Jesus answered him thus, "…Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the
great and first commandment" (ASV). If you ask people to list the Ten
Commandments, they’ll most certainly not start with this. They’d say,
"Thou shall worship no other God before me." But Jesus brought love
before worship. He knows that if you’d love Him, you’d worship Him.
It’s not so much what your faith
or hope can do; God is more concerned about what your love can do. Go beyond
faith and hope, and function in the arena of love, where your words and actions
are motivated only by love.
Prayer
Dear Father, I thank you for
filling my heart with your love by the Holy Spirit. This love overwhelms me
today, and many experience the joy and genuineness of your love-power through
me, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Further Study: John
4:24; Deuteronomy 6:5
1 Year Bible Reading : Psalms
52-55 Romans 5:12-21
2 Year Bible Reading : Ephesians
4:25-32 Isaiah 51
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