Faith, Hope, & LoveSample

These Three Remain

The Apostle Paul gets right to the heart of the matter in 1 Corinthians 13, the chapter commonly referred to as the chapter on love. It’s likely that even those who aren’t followers of Jesus are familiar with this passage. After describing the word love in detail and even sharing about spiritual gifts like prophecy and tongues, he finishes off the chapter by saying that “three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love.” 

Before we go any further into this Plan, let’s define those words. 

Faith: confidence or trust in a person or thing; belief that isn’t based on proof
Hope: to want something to happen or be true
Love: to have love or affection for another person or object

After reading those, they probably resonate with you. But as followers of Jesus, we can go deeper into these words, beyond what is defined in a dictionary written by people. We can seek to really understand their meanings found in God’s Word, so that we can display them in our lives. 

In 1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV, we learn an incredible truth about faith, hope, and love. Paul said this about the believers in Thessalonica: their work was “produced by faith,” their labor was “prompted by love,” and their endurance “inspired by hope.” It was their faith that motivated them to action, their love that drove them to serve others, and their hope that helped them to endure. You see, faith, hope, and love are the catalysts to work, labor, and endurance. The things that we can’t see often produce the things that we can see. 

There will be times in our lives where our faith, hope, and love have declined, and because we don’t feel them, it often keeps us from taking action. If we want to make sure that we walk in faith, act in love, and endure in hope, we’ll need to dive into each word. Let’s aim to understand what faith, hope, and love each mean, and how we can—and should—exercise these traits in the world we live in.

It’s one thing to know what faith, hope, and love are, and an entirely different thing to express them. We have to take what we know and actually begin to live it out. As we learn and apply these truths, we’ll become a better version of ourselves and the person God is calling us to be. And we’ll see our little slice of the world change as well.