Faith, Hope, Love
Faith Hope Love
Colossians 1:3–5 (CSB) “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints because of the hope reserved for you in heaven.”
Paul praised the Colossian saints and thanked God for them because of their faith. His thankfulness went beyond just their belief on Jesus and included their love for one another.
The enemy is rightly called the accuser. Often, he insinuates that we are unloving. If we counter that we love our spouses, our children, or our friends, he points out places where we could have loved more. He highlights times when we responded irritably. He reminds us of the times our anger swelled, and gentle kindness was nowhere to be found.
Our minds might be drawn to verses like 1 Corinthians 13:13 (CSB) which reads, “Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—but the greatest of these is love.” We might be tempted to think that given our attitudes and actions the greatest thing is sadly lacking in us. It’s easy to go there. The flesh, the world, and even our senses, tell us that we must work harder to love more and better.
But let’s be clear. It is always good for us to choose godliness. We are well advised to take steps to modify our behavior, work to improve our attitudes, pursue godliness. Scripture is clear that grace teaches us to do just that. (see Titus 2:11-12) Paul talks about putting off old practices and putting on godly practices instead. (see Colossians 3:8-10) Even God Himself is working in us. He is giving us the desire and the prompting to action required. (see Philippians 2:13) Ephesians 2:10 tells us that good works have been prepared for us in advance and that they should characterize our lives.
It's not about religious performance. It’s not about rule keeping. It’s not about self-effort. No, it’s about faith and it’s about hope. Galatians 5:6 (CSB) tells us that “what matters is faith working through love.”
Now let’s look at a hidden gem in the passage we started with. Look at verse 5. Paul says that the love the Colossian saints have for their sisters and brothers in Christ is because of the hope reserved for them in heaven.
Because they are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus, the saints love one another. Even more wonderfully, when saints love one another, they are witnesses to the love, grace, and majesty of Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself told us this in John 13:34–35 (CSB) “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
So, these three remain, faith, hope, and love. Faith in Jesus gives us the hope of eternal life. This hope isn’t like a wish. Rather, this hope is an eager expectation. Because we have this expectation that all will ultimately be well with us, we are free to love one another. That love gets noticed.
Like Jesus, for the joy set before us, let’s endure this life as ambassadors in the valley of the shadow of death, despising any shame over the way it makes us look to the world because we know that one day we will be with Jesus who sits at the right hand of God.
Hebrews 12:1–2 (CSB) “…let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
