Verse of the Day 4/11
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
At the end of 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul stated that we should "earnestly desire the greater gifts, and that he would show us a "still more excellent way'. He then launched into his great passage about love. We considered yesterday how love is much more than an emotion of "feeling" and love is reflected in our actions, in our lives and in our interactions with others.
Today's verese ends the "love chapter" and Paul summarizes it by saying that faith, hope and love are qualities that abide, take up residence in the person who sets his or her heart on following Christ. They are all more than emotions, faith hope and love for the Christians are at the core of who we are, what we believe. The empower us, enable us to do things that we woulldn't naturally do on our own. They help us to be "overcomers". They are not things that we have to wait for, we can have them now.
John Eldred writes, "By saying they last forever, God names these three as immortal powers. A life without faith has no meaning; a life without love isn't worth living; a life without hope is a dark cavern from which you cannot escape. These things aren't simply "virtues." Faith, hope, and love are mighty forces meant to carry your life forward, upward; they are your wings and the strength to use them. "
His words of "carrying your life upward, they are your wings and the strenght to use them" bring me back to one of my favoirite passages in Isaiah.
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles;they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
It's a picture of faith, hope and love abiding.
Blessings,
Mike
Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace. NIV
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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