FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE “And now abideth faith, hope, (love), these three; but the greatest of these is (love)” 1 Corinthians 13:13. I want to open a certain page of reasoning for your understanding to how these three; faith, hope, and love relate together, or functions along with one another, even as a team unto a result. These three; faith, hope, and love, they dwell together, they are linked one to another, and they operate in accordance to produce one end; this to this to this, and then, all unto that. Why so necessary for an understanding unto a knowing? It is because of the product that they outcome. See, it is very essential to secure a knowing from these, because, the possibility of any man born into the world, to have a relationship with God; to inherit the Kingdom of God; and to receive life eternal, is basically based on these three; faith, hope, and love. That is, without these, man has no connection with God, and so part not with Him, but is cut off from Him, even forever. They are like to say, Mansfield, Afolabi, and, Joshua are sons of Chris: but Joshua is the eldest. Meaning, they all come from one father, and belongs to the same family, even as one people dwelling together under the same roof, and Joshua is the oldest. The same is like these three, but as for these three, they so work together that, without any, others attain not to the prescribed result, I mean, without any, others aren’t complete, but the three worketh perfect the result. For to broading your understanding of these three, let me give a natural example of how these three even exist among men, or function in betwixt human beings, or how these three normally work among human beings, or how these three affect our everyday lives, especially, between a man and a woman, even in the respect of marriage; how that these three functions between a man and a woman unto a marriage union; becoming couples, different persons who lived separately without any connection, but now brought together to be one. Is like a man: and a woman in different pursuits in life, who someway somehow met together in their lifetime journeys: and then appeared a liking whereby some reasons inclined the man to suppose love for the woman. By that, the man begun to welcome thoughts about the woman, which compels him to reason in the direction of the woman, who once existed not to him, but now has come to mind. Then, the man according to his feeling concerning the woman, being so strong, accepts a love idea for the woman, and thus accommodates thoughts for a mentality towards the woman. But, the woman, may not be wearing the same cap, and so be going outside the mind of the man, therefore, to get the woman to face the direction of the man, because it is the man that has gotten that mind, he must cause the woman to step into the direction of his reasoning. How? By attracting her attention to elicit similar thoughts in her, or implanting in her mind some thoughts to cause her to move in the direction of his intention, conception or purpose; he will have to give the woman to think in favour of him, before the woman will join herself to him. Remember, we are treating faith, hope, and love. And now, the man has acknowledged his love for the woman: but the woman is without his love; and knoweth not what is going on in his heart; “For what man knoweth the things of a man…?” (1 Corinthians 2:11); meaning, the woman can not tell, the mind of the man: even if, by some expressions she could somehow imagine some thing that way, she’s not in the better position to walk to the man, and say, looking at your forehead, it seems that you seek for my love, so here I am. No, but rather, the man has to pass down information for the woman to climb up to him. Firstly notice that, he’d welcomed love for the woman, so at this point, the love among the three (faith, hope, and love) has already taking stand with the man: yet, the man must connect the woman to his love through some means. See how the man might attempt to wife the woman; he will probably call to the woman, and when the woman comes to answer, he will begin to words some ideas for the woman to consider him in her life. Like, my dear…in fact, frankly speaking, you are more than special to me, I dreamily know certainly to be with you, even as my heart bears witness, that, you are the one meet for my love…so for this…and that… I have resolute to queen you in my life…I will wed you; esteem you, cherish you, value you…and really do you good, such as none could be so in your life…believe me, of a reality, you have preoccupy my mind; and my heart is seeking to unite with you in love…like that and with many others, the man conditions the woman to hope for a future with him; all such words that the man gives to the woman, are intended to stimulate a hope in the woman for the purpose of the man, so they are described as words of hope; that’s, at the bottom line, the man gives hope to the woman. But it is in the interest of the woman to accept those words of hope, and if she did, she will be positioned to believe in him; and faith also is based on hope, even as, “…faith is the substance of things hoped for…” (Hebrews 11:1). That is, the man had love for the woman; and so gave hope to the woman; and the woman being pleased with the hope, believed, and accepted the man; and as a results possibilized their union. In a simpler term, the love is the approach of the man, the hope is the proposal, and the faith is the acceptance of the woman, and finally, the result is their marriage. Love is the greatest, because, it was in the name of love that the man gave hope to the woman, and when the hope found place in the woman, and that she trusted in that hope, she also responded in love, to the man’s love for her, and they were put together to dwell in love. Thus, her answering in love to his calling of love put them together as one, which means, the love began, and also concluded their union. That was an expression of how these three; faith, hope, and love, functions between a human being and another human being: but the idea of this message, is to know how they function between a human being, and God. For this purpose, let’s turn to John 3:16; “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). We are extracting faith, hope, and love from this one verse; firstly, it says, For God so loved the world, which indicates love, secondly, it says, that He gave His only begotten Son, which also indicates hope; God sent His Son to be the hope of eternal life unto the world, so, giving His Son to the world is the same as giving hope to the world, lastly, it says that, whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life, which means, that, any one who responds by faith to the hope given by God, receives to possess of the hope. Therefore, in here, the love has to do with God, whiles the hope has to do with Jesus, and the faith has to do with the human spirit. Let me stress a little on why Jesus became the hope of eternal life to the world, let’s read from Psalm 107:17; “Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.” The fools in this context, represents some, who were positioned unto safety: but somehow deviated unto destruction, and as thus suffered. It means, you were instructed unto good, for yourself: but you disobeyed unto evil, against yourself. Such a case was in the Garden of Eden; how that God instructed man in the ways of life: but man diverted to the ways of death, and so fell into destructions, suffering all kinds of afflictions by deceptions. Nevertheless, you warned the child against, but he’s falling into, won’t you yet deliver him out? Certainly you will, for if your child eases himself on your lap, you will clean it off, but will not cut off the lap. That’s, when you love someone very sincerely, even when he wrongs you, you are able to easily let go; because love is stronger than sin, and that love prevails over iniquities, for love covers every mistakes, love holds not wrong against others; that’s why “…God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God warned the man, saying; avoid the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, lest you die: but the man went for the tree, and so died. Yet, the love of God wouldn’t allow Him to utterly forsake men, and so He resorted to “…sent His Word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions” (Psalm 107:20). Why did God send His Word instead? Because, “All things were made by (the Word); and without Him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3), which literally means, man was created by the Word, and after that, God gave the Word for man to live by: but man rebelled against the Word. And just as the Psalmist confessed that, “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy Word” (Psalm 119:67), which indicate that, to refuse the Word is to welcome afflictions, and that was exactly man’s case in the garden. Nevertheless, God’s love for man caused Him to initiate a grand plan for man’s total redemption; He sent His Word who is the life to deliver men from death. Thus, the Word manifested in the flesh, so that, men should not perish; because, whosoever will receive the Word, receives eternal life. This is evident, that, the Word was sent to be the hope of eternal life to men; “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:11-12). “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). Halleluiah! Now, herein is the understanding, God loved (love), so He sent His Word (hope), that who will believe (faith). The love that God had produced the hope that He gave to men, and the hope that He gave to men gave grounds for their faith in Him, which resulted in connecting man even back to God, thus, the three worked together to possibilize a relationship between God and man, and that relationship made man to partake in the Kingdom of God, and man’s part in God’s everlasting Kingdom gave man to live forever. You see, “…faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1), that’s, faith substantiates hope, meaning, without hope, there can’t be faith, but hope also exist to he that have believed in hope, because, hope worketh for he that respond to hope by faith; giving evidence of the unseen, and acting like it, or living accordingly. You don’t need to see hope with your optical eyes first, that’s why we wait for it, but, to walk in the reality of hope, or to actualize hope in the now, is by faith. “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Romans 5:5). Meaning, when you believe in a hope which came by love, you will never be ashamed, because, love does not fail. That means, when you dwell on the hope that God has provided in His Word for you, you will never ever regret, because He gave that hope, not because of your personal qualification; but because of His love for you. And He loved you first without your knowledge, before He manifested His love to you, by giving you such a gracious hope to come back to Him. Therefore, His love produced the hope, and the hope brought about the faith, and the faith through the hope connects you to His love; and oneness is established. Thus, with our faith in His provided hope, we dwell in His love, and thus dwell in Him, even as the Father, and His sons, together as one family: wow! My goodness! Finally brethren, love is the assurance of hope, and hope is the strength of faith, and faith is the acceptance of hope, and hope is the link of love. The conviction of your hope, determines the size of your faith, and the size of your faith, determines the effect of your love, and the effect of your love determines your reward. If you will understand this, in your walk of faith, you will always remain optimistic, for when anything seems down, hope still moves on, and hope also is the fuel of faith, so as long as there is hope, faith is alive, and as long as faith is alive, love is real and effective. If you are convinced of your hope, you don’t waver in your walk of faith, irrespective of the circumstances; “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). “And now abideth faith, hope, (love), these three; but the greatest of these is (love)” 1 Corinthians 13:13… If you want to receive Christ into your spirit, kindly pray thus: “O LORD GOD, I COME TO YOU IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST, YOUR WORD SAYS, “…WHOSOEVER SHALL CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED” I ASK JESUS TO COME INTO MY HEART TO BE THE LORD OF MY LIFE. I RECEIVE ETERNAL LIFE INTO MY SPIRIT, I DECLARE I AM SAVED; I AM BORN AGAIN; I AM A CHILD OF GOD; I NOW HAVE CHRIST DWELLING IN ME, AND GREATER IS HE THAT IS IN ME THAN HE THAT IS IN THE WORLD! I NOW WALK IN THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF MY NEW LIFE. HALLELUJAH!”
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 11:44:30 +0000