As I’m sure you know by now, my favorite topic is love. I often refer to the 13th chapter of I Corinthians and its beautiful definition of love. One of my favorite verses in the New Testament is I Corinthians 13:13 “Three things will last forever – faith, hope and love – and the greatest of these is love.” When asked about the greatest commandment Jesus replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all of the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40) God demonstrated His love for us while we were sinners (John 3:16) and it is God’s love in our heart that sets us apart from the world.
I have also written often about the importance of faith in Jesus Christ. I love to share stories of the faith of other believers and I readily testify about my own faith. Without faith we cannot please God. (Hebrews 11:6) As a matter of fact the entire 11th chapter of Hebrews is a hall of fame of people of faith in the Old Testament. Yes, I have spent much time writing about love and faith, but it recently occurred to me that I haven’t written much about hope.
I love Raniero Cantalamessa’s description of faith, hope and love. “They are like three sisters. Two of them are grown and the other is a small child. They go forward together hand in hand with the child hope in the middle. Looking at them it would seem that the bigger ones are pulling the child, but it is the other way around; it is the little girl who is pulling the two bigger ones. It is hope that pulls faith and love. Without hope everything would stop.”
Hope is the realization that something better is possible. It is the anticipation that drives us forward. Paul points out in Romans 8:24 that once we have something we no longer need to hope for it. I’m so glad God continues to provide us with even more for which to hope, pulling us toward Him.
Quoting Isaiah, Matthew wrote about Jesus, “And his name will be the hope of all the world.” (Matthew 12:21) The gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of hope. We reach out to a hopelessly lost world and we share our love and our faith with them, but until they can see the light of hope; the possibility of escape from a life of darkness, nothing else will matter.