Faith, hope, and love: three very important factors in a Christian's life

Faith, hope and love are at the center of Christian’s life, at least they should be. They are the drive and motivation behind everything we do. At the end of what is known as the Love Chapter, Paul writes that faith, hope and love are what remains (or lasts) and the greatest of these three is love (1 Corinthians 13:13). These words are often found on home décor, to be displayed in one’s house but does one truly understand that they mean? What is faith? What is hope? What is love? We may know the basic definitions of these terms but what about them makes them so important.

Faith is defined as “complete trust or confidence in someone or something.” In the New International Version (NIV) Bible, faith is used 270 times. The basics of faith is trust and commitment to God. Faith can be shown in three basic ways. First, personal belief, mental acceptance and acknowledgment of God’s existence. In John 20:29 Jesus says to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Many people have come to believe and have faith in Christ but have not seen him. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says “We live by faith, not by sight.” Faith is belief in things that are unseen. Second, conduct inspired faith. In Matthew 9:2, Jesus healed a man because of his faith. Faith allows us to believe in the unbelievable and one day, believers will be rewarded for their faith by seeing that was once unseen. St Augustine once said, “Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.” Third, a trust or trustworthiness inspires our faith. Thomas Aquinas wrote “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To no without faith, no explanation is possible.”

Hope is defined as “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” Hope is used 129 times in 121 verses in the NIV Bible. Hope is essential because “hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12). However, hope is not like having a lottery ticket and hoping you win. Hope in the Bible is linked to salvation by grace and faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus is our hope. Hope for eternity. Hope because God is in control of everything around us. It is a hope of certainty, a divine hope while a human hope is a hope of uncertainty. Human hope is merely wishful thinking. Hope in Jesus helps us live now. Sometimes we still use hope as wishful thinking “I hope it all works out” but you never know. However, there is hope in our salvation and the promises that Jesus gives us in the gospels that we can rely on with certainty. In Philippians 3:13-14, Paul writes, “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Lastly, love. Everyone knows love and it is a word that many people use carelessly. Love is used 681 in the NIV Bible. 1 Corinthians 13 describes what love is. Love is patient, kind, protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres and rejoices with the truth (verses 4 and 6). It also describes what love is not. Love is not boastful, jealous, proud, rude, or easily angered (verses 4 and 5). Love does not keep any record of wrongs, self-seeking, or delight in evil (verses 5 and 6). Love never fails (verse 8). Love is the greatest of all human qualities because it involves unselfish service to others. It is the most durable and real evidence that you care. "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). Laying down one’s life is putting another’s needs ahead of your own and it is the ultimate sacrifice of giving one’s life for another as Jesus did on the cross. Love is attributed to God himself. John 3:16 states “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

In conclusion, faith, hope and love are important in a Christian life. Faith is the foundation and content of God’s message. From faith, hope and love are built. Hope is the attitude and focus. Love is both in action. All three on interconnected. Love without faith or hope is hallow. While faith and hope without love will fail. Faith, hope and love are the things that will last forever. When everything else falls away, these three things will remain. Faith, hope and love are the things we should be pursuing in our lives and should be the motivations behind all we do in the name of Jesus.