Faith, Hope, & Love

 

"..and the greatest of these is love' (1 Corinthians 13:13). 

I read and study mostly the New King James version (NKJV) of the Bible, so all my scripture quotes are of that version of the Bible. 

Faith

There are several passage in the Bible that mentions of having faith in The Lord throughout the Bible. 

King David, who wrote most of the book of Psalms, declared his faith in  Psalms 27. 

"The LORD is my light and my salvation;

Whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the strength of my life;

Of whom shall I be afraid?

When the wicked came against me

To eat up my flesh,

My enemies and foes,

They stumbled and fell.

Though an army may encamp against me,

My heart shall not fear;

Though war may rise against me,

In this I will be confident.

One thing I have desired of the LORD,

That will I seek:

That I may dwell in the house of the LORD

All the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the LORD,

And to inquire in His temple.

For in the time of trouble

He shall hide me in His pavilion;

In the secret place of His tabernacle

He shall hide me;

He shall set me high upon a rock.

And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me;

Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle;

I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.

Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice!

Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

When You said, “Seek My face,”

My heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.”

Do not hide Your face from me;

Do not turn Your servant away in anger;

You have been my help;

Do not leave me nor forsake me,

O God of my salvation.

When my father and my mother forsake me,

Then the LORD will take care of me.

Teach me Your way, O LORD,

And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.

Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;

For false witnesses have risen against me,

And such as breathe out violence.

I would have lost heart, unless I had believed

That I would see the goodness of the LORD

In the land of the living.

Wait on the LORD;

Be of good courage,

And He shall strengthen your heart;

Wait, I say, on the LORD!"

"Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him: But the just shall live by his faith" (Habakkuk 2:4).

"Assuredly, I say, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!" (Matthew 8:10).

"Go your way, your faith has made you well." (Mark 10.52).

"Where is your faith?" (Luke 8:25). 

"I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the powers of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me." (Acts 26:17-18). 

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1). 

Thus, as Christians we are to, or are to try to, live our lives in faith in The Lord as He does give us every reason to put our faith and trust in Him!  My faith in the Lord is strong, but I know it will be tested time and time again while living here on earth as the devil will try his best to weaken or, if possible, to diminish my faith in the Lord, all together. That is why, no matter what I am going through, I am going to live my life as best as I can as a faith filled Christian in putting my faith and trust in the Lord. 

Hope
Just as with faith, hope is mentioned throughout the Bible in good and bad times. 

"So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts her mouth." (Job 5:16). 

"Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope in His mercy, To deliver their soul from death, And keep them alive in famine." (Psalms 33:18-19).

" The hope of the righteous will be gladness, But the expectations of the wicked will perish." (Proverbs 10:28).

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life." (Proverbs 13:12).

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is in the Lord." Jeremiah 17:7). 

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11). One of my favorite verses!

"For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?" (1 Thessalonians 2:19).  

Thus, our hope as a Christian lays in Jesus Christ promise of looking out for us in giving us a future with Him upon His return to take us home with Him. I know I rejoice in this hope everyday. And, I know that even when things don't turn out as I have planed that it is His plans for my life where my hope is grounded. I have faith in Him of my future that leads me to a hope filled life and future with Jesus Christ. That is the hope I live my life. 

Love
God is Love! Love is the main message Christianity is based on. There are numerous passages and occasions in the Bible that mention love and acts of love. So numerous to name them all here would probably take a hundred pages or more, but I will give some examples of how important and dominate the message of love is based upon in the atmosphere of Christianity. 

"Therefore know the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Hin and keep His commandment, and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them" (Deuteronomy 7:9-10).

"Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; And let those who love your salvation say continually, "Let God be magnified!" (Psalm 70:4).

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your Lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night.." (Psalm 92: 1-2). All of Psalm 92 is a praise song to the Lord for His love and faithfulness to us. 

"Oh, love the lord, all you His saints! For the lord preserves the faithful, And fully repays the proud person. Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All who hope in the Lord." (Psalm 31.23-24). This one passage gives you all three things that are everlasting with the Lord with Love being first, then faith and hope. 

"The Lord has appeared old to me, saying; "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you." (Jeremiah 31:3).

" You have heard it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun ride on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?" (Matthew 543-46). 

"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment.... And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There are no other commandments greater than theses...." (Mark 12:29-31). 

"But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them" (Luke 6:32). 

"By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). 

"For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Galatians 5:14).

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. against such there is no law." (Galatians 5:22).

'And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13: 3). 

"Love suffers long and is kind, love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails." (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8).

"And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love"  (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Thus, Christanity is based in love for the Lord and others. If you will notice the last few passage I presented are from 1 Corinthians 13. Most the whole chapter 13 of Corinthians is Paul's understanding of love as the Lord showed Him love and mercy in forgiving him; one of the worst persecutors of Christians in Paul's time. He new well, first hand, of Jesus forgiving love and of His loving care for humanity. I am still working on this "love thy neighbor" thing myself. It's hard; especially due my experiences with humanity. I was saved decades ago, but when I decided to move forward with my belief in Jesus Christ, he cracked my built up barriers and planted the seed of love deep inside my soul. However, it's been hard to grow that seed into the matured love I know the Lord gave it to me for and to bring it forth from deep inside due my past experiences with people. But, I am not one to give up on myself, nor humanity. I'm learning to love myself and others all over again. And, even thou hard at times, the Love He gave me and showed me feels awesome!

My understanding of Faith, Hope, Love & Christianity: Christianity is Faith in the lord to see one through this life into the Hope of living eternity with Jesus Christ upon His return; which, equals the Love God bestowed upon His creation, humanity where Love being the greatest. Christianity is all about God's love!

"For God So loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever beleives in Him should not parish, but have everlasting life. ( John 3:16).