Faith Hope Love - by Ben Bonython

You know those people who just ooze a hope that the future will be ok! And you know those people who seem to not worry in the moment but just have faith that it will be ok! And you know those people who seem full of love; you can even see it in their eyes! A faith-based romantic comedy called Faith, Hope and Love is about two people recovering to have faith, hope and love again. The two characters agree to help each other, and in the process, they develop a deeper connection. But at the centre is God – faith, hope & love!

Faith, Hope and Love are attributes we all can exercise and have, but it seems to have an inherent risk! Throughout the Bible, Faith is mentioned around 278 times, Hope 151 times, but Love - 551 times. There is verse in the bible from 1 Corinthians 13:13 which says:

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

A helpful expression of these three things at work can be found in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 which says:

“We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

This passage proclaims that our work for the Lord must be produced by faith. Our labour for the Lord must be motivated by love and our capacity to endure must be inspired by hope. This still seems risky!

The bible clearly has a bias towards Love, in that the word is expressed much more than faith and hope. But I would reason that this is because the expression and giving of Love, in itself, does not require trust. Trust is required for hope and faith. And the safest place for that trust is in the Lord. If you can’t trust, faith and hope become a shell of their intent. But Love…you can love without being loved back. At its heart, love is risk free, because love has the capability to pass through mistrust.

However the miracle of love has a capacity to self-generate faith and hope, and indwell trust!

So this is why I think Love is the greatest. After all, put simply in 1 John 4:8, the Lord Himself:…is love!

Does the Lord take a risk by loving us? What do you think?