The Fruit of Hope: Discovering Hope in the Fruits of the SpiritSample

Welcome to “The Fruit of Hope,” a look at the fruit of the Spirit as found in Galatians 5 and how every single one of them points to the hope we have in Christ. First up: love.

Love and hope go hand in hand, as we read in the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians, where the Apostle Paul goes long on the attributes of love and we read this foundational summation:

“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a NRSV)

Could you think of a better summation of hope? When you’re hopeful for the future, when you believe things can get better and that God will come through on his promises, then you can be patient.

When you have hope for your loved one to start making better choices, you can be kind.

When you have hope that God will provide for your every need—physical, financial, social, emotional, cultural… you name it—then you step right past envy, boasting, arrogance, and rudeness and instead embrace God’s complete plan.

Hope understands that God is at work in all things and so hope helps us take life as God brings it to us instead of insisting on doing things our way. Hope brings peace instead of irritation and forgiveness instead of the record-keeping that comes with a limited, hopeless viewpoint.

Later in 1 Corinthians 13:13, we learn that there are three things that remain: faith, hope, and love, and that the greatest is love. Hope goes hand in hand with love. So lead with love… and hope!