So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (I Corinthians 13:13 ESV)
Life is difficult… for now.
We have so many reasons to be afraid. We struggle against God’s enemies: the flesh, the world, and Satan. (Ephesians 2:1-3) We fight against the Old Man that still grasps our very hearts. (Colossians 3:9) The effects of sin in the created world breed tragedy and pain. (Romans 8:20-22)
But on the other side of the equation of our life, God answers our fears with His help. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit stand against all the enemies, pain, struggles, worries, sins, and sins effects of this broken life. We are not alone.
God also gives internal help. He enables us. He strengthens us. He transforms us.
Often we misunderstand Scripture’s descriptions of that help. Rather than see that God gives gifts, we think He is giving commands.
The armor of God… the fruit of the Spirit… the beatitudes… and even the ten commandments are not so much further requirements that we are unable to perfectly meet as they are God-given tools, God-granted abilities, God-given weapons, and God-given places to stand.
We can stand in the fight because God gives His people more appropriate armor than Saul tried to give David. (I Samuel 17:38) We can endure the effects of Adam’s sin (and ours) because God gives His people protections, defenses, and hopes. (Genesis 3:21) We can withstand the terrible tumultuous storms of yesterday, today, and tomorrow because God has given us what He knows we need (Genesis 7:16)
We do not like to receive gifts. We like to think we earn what we have. We like to depend on ourselves rather than something greater, or higher, or richer than ourselves. We think we can make it on our own.
How’s that working out for you?
The grace of the gospel extends beyond Justification and covers sanctification, too. God is THE active element in every single tiny and huge aspect of our lives. But He does not just wave His fingers and make things happen.
He gifts us. He enables us. He grants us. He does for us by doing through us.
But it is not us… it is Him.
Paul describes three gifts from God that we traditionally have misunderstood in this way.
When struggling and hurting and fighting and experiencing life, God gives us three gifts. He gives us Faith. He gives us Hope. He gives us Love.
These three are not simply things we are required to DO.
These three are things that He covers us with, fills us with, strengthens us with, grows us with, helps us with, and even saves us with.
Three abide. Faith, Hope, and Love.