Faith, Hope, Love

 1 Oct 25

Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Life Application Study Bible Devotion


Faith, Hope, Love

In morally corrupt Corinth, love had become a mixed-up term with little meaning. Today people are still confused about love. Love is the greatest of all human qualities, and it is an attribute of God himself. Love involves unselfish service to others; to show it gives evidence that you care. Faith is the foundation and content of God's message; hope is the attitude and focus; love is the action. When faith and hope are in line, you are free to love completely because you understand how God loves.


“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

——————-

Reflections

Perhaps it goes like this, in my own opinion. I didn’t reject Christianity, I have an open heart to it. Through the many times I been to church service, one fine day God decides to speak to me. It felt like a conversation while I was singing and I felt like He was asking me if I meant what I sang. Tears just well up in my eyes I’m not sure why, and I replied in continued singing and said yes..  the rest is history. Faith comes first, because I have accepted Him in my heart, even before I was baptised, even before I said the sinners prayer.


Friends, our Lord wants us to come to Him as we are. No need for pretence, no need to show Him a good side of us, no need to be perfect or know bible (in fact till now nobody fully is perfect or knows the bible full well). He already knows us inside out, He already knows us even before we ask. What is it that He does not know?


The hope we have is not about religion. It is the hope of knowing who He is and whose we are. Not by our own skills or strength and what we can do. Never! It is all about Him! The things that we speak and able to do, even though it is so hard for us, was all channeled by His grace and His power. No one else does that. And that comes when we have a personal relationship with Him, a loving one that is.


Love, the language that is beyond a lot of understanding. The agape love that He has shown us. The sacrificial love that He has given us by sending His son to redeem us. We learned how to love because He first loved us. We are born into this broken world not knowing what love is. We were taught conditional love. A love that says if you do well in school I will bring you overseas. A love that says if you do well in your projects, you will get promoted. Those are not true love. Those are transactions and you are given an outcome that was promised to you, provided they deliver that promise. For the Lord, He gives without any prerequisites. He didn’t say you must do this or do that in order to receive salvation. No. It was all received by faith. And in love, He freely gives.

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