Faith, Hope, & Love
Faith, Hope, & Love
Galatians 5:5-6 “For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” (ESV)
Faith is expressed through love.
I think this is a particularly important point. If we miss this, it’s easy for us to get off track. We can easily revert to thinking that we have to do more or do better as a way to prove (to others, to God, or to ourselves) that our faith is genuine. Too often in the church we have been given the impression that our faith is measured by how involved we are.
Don’t misunderstand me. Being involved is not a bad thing. As children of God, we want to do godly things. The problem is when we begin to use them as a measuring stick of our devotion, commitment, maturity, and faithfulness. The problem is that we can be tempted to think that our doing results in greater merit for us before God.
As I see it, this is the reason why Jesus left us with two commands; believe, and love. First John 5:3 tells us that His commands are not burdensome. He knew that our new hearts would drive us to love one another, and to love our neighbors. Everything else derives from that. That’s why Paul could write in Romans 13:10 that “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law. (NASB 2020)
This is where hope figures in. We often think of hope meaning something we wish for. “I hope I win the lottery.” Biblical hope is not a wish. When we read of hope in scripture, the meaning is confident expectation. All our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. We trust that everything He has said is true and that in addition to all we’ve already been given, we will receive the promised inheritance. That we will truly be like Him because one day we will see Him as He is.
Do you see it?
Faith in Jesus Christ, the hope of the Gospel and the love of God that has been poured all over our new hearts causes us to deny ungodliness and live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this world. (see Titus 2:11-12)
