The great Teacher once wrote in Ecclesiastes that all things here are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Paul listed not-so-ordinary things that extol a man by his works, such as gift of prophecy and knowledge, giving all of one’s possessions to the poor, or sacrificing one’s body to be burned. However, like Solomon, he concluded that all these are nothing and everything passes away. But only three things remain, that is, faith, hope and love.
Who can argue with what both men of God asserted?
Our possessions, dreams, career, power, prestige, and wealth- all these things shall dissolve at one time or another. It may not be today or next year or thereafter. But one thing is sure, it will be a thing of the past. Meanwhile, what will remain will be the three values mentioned. These will be the ones that matter to God.
Let’s refresh our minds and hearts with the Bible passages dealing with faith, hope and love.
FAITH
As Scripture put it, “Faith is the confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. ” The Lord himself said, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
The stories of healing in the Bible for a lot of people in Jesus time points to one parallel thing. This is the faith of those whom the Lord touched. He responded to their need for healing because He saw and felt their faith.
If we need to understand faith better and be inspired, review the book of Hebrews. The author lines up heroes possessing great faith. We can only sit back in awe and admiration how these people displayed their brand of faith even though none of them received what had been promised.
There was this young man who was chosen by the leaders of his group because they had seen in him his steadfast faith. He was assigned to help and support the growth of their cause. He did his part with much enthusiasm and wonders among the people. His commitment to the cause was exemplary and the people were amazed. But a hero like him raised the ire of those who were in power. This was because he challenged their beliefs and immoral practice. He pointed out their unrighteous lifestyle that put burdens over the people. He was an agent of change in his time and confronted the abusive religiosity of the ruling elite and their status quo. As his popularity among the people grew because of his zealous character for change and to raise the spiritual lives of his people, the ruling elite conspired to seize him, put him in a mock trial and incited a lynch mob to kill him afterwards. During the trial he gave a brilliant defense of his commitment to his cause which none of his persecutors can rebut nor justify their accusations. In the end because of the hardness of their hearts, selfishness and blindness, they all screamed at him and dragged him out on the streets and ordered him killed. As they were carrying out their evil deed of putting the young man to his violent death, his face shone like an angel. He prayed to his God to receive his spirit as he was dying and likewise asked his Lord not to hold his persecutors’ sin against them. He bravely held on to his faith till the end. His name was Stephen. He was among the first martyrs in the Christian movement of his time.
HOPE
A young widow lived with her mother in-law. Because there were no means to support themselves, there was hardship and famine in the land, the mother in-law decided to go back to her native land. As she was set out to leave, the young woman pleaded with her to take her.
Three times the mother declined her request. But the young woman would not take no for an answer. She cannot be dissuaded. She told her, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn my back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” Seeing her seriousness and firm resolve, the mother in-law agreed to take her to her homeland. There both of them supported each other and hoped that God will bless them as they start their new life. The young woman helped in the farm duties owned by a rich farmer. The farm owner saw her hard work and privately instructed his administrator to see to it she was taken cared of and her need for food was met. Not for long, the well-off farmer took notice of her. To make the story short, he courted her and they eventually got married. God had blessed their family with abundance. The story of Ruth, along with her mother in-law Naomi, gives us assurance that when we hope in God, He will arrange all things in our midst- places, people and events to favor and bless us, and fulfill his plan in our life. Paul put it this way, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” We recall that the Moabite Ruth even as a foreigner in Israel was part of the lineage of the Savior.
Paul further instructed us, “Forget the things that are behind and reach forward to those things which are ahead. xxx We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. Do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. xxx For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”
LOVE
There is the worldly love called feleo, which we are all familiar with. Then there is the type of love which the Rabbi Yeshua taught his disciples. This is agape love. It is the kind of love that is selfless and willing to sacrifice oneself for the good of another; showing kindness and compassion to one another and forgiving each other.
Paul, in the First Book of Corinthians, defines love as:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
The apostle John who called himself beloved by the Lord summed up the whole Essence of God in three words: God is love. Because of his love for us, he gave his only Son to be sacrificed for our salvation.
Now therefore let us not demean ourselves because of our self-pity to self-destruct, to give in to despair, delusion, depression, defeat, pain, struggle and sin. As believer we should infuse faith, hope and love in our hearts and to implant the best intention of these ideals in our spirit. Thereafter we take the next step of taking action based on these principles. For the litmus test of our Christian life is essentially faith, hope and love.
Therefore beloved, let us make these eternal words as banner in our everyday life. To subject all things to these standards as the prime mover of our life. To test our commitment to consciously adapt and to simplify that which was asked of us by the spiritual mentor named Charles Monroe Sheldon who coached us to ask ourselves on anything that we need to do, that is, our thoughts, actions and intentions, the overriding question: What would Jesus do if he were in my place? I now believe that measuring our thoughts and actions by the parameters of faith, hope and love should be the be all and all metric. Jesus, as our great role model, has acted and performed his ministry exhibiting faith in His Father in heaven, showing the hope for eternal life and manifestly expressing his love for us all by willingly accepting his death on the cross.