1 Corinthians 13:13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13 is often recited in churches, used as sermon texts, preached on, written about, and brought to mind when we try to understand and comprehend love. While this is all well and good, the last verse of the chapter, verse 13, is commonly overlooked, and it is the subject of this article.
First, let us look at the word “abide.” What does it mean? In the simplest terms possible, the word abide is a rough translation for “continue to be, not to perish, to last, to endure, to survive.” No matter what happens, faith, hope and love will always remain. Over-arching our human existence are faith, hope and love. We cannot dispense with them. We cannot oppress them out of existence. We cannot legislate them away. They are written into the very fabric of the universe.
E. Stanley Jones in his style of writing often used the phrase “the universe will not tolerate it,” or words to that effect. He was saying that there are natural laws which humanity cannot change, despite anything they attempt to do in bringing faith, hope and love out of existence. There will always be a natural tendency back toward faith, hope and love. The universe will find a way.
If they are such important words in our vocabulary that they are written into the very fabric of our lives and of the universe around us, we should take the time to understand them more fully. That they are extremely difficult words to define must not stand in our way of seeking understanding. We cannot place God in a box, thus, we cannot define with human words heavenly concepts, such as faith, hope and love. Still, we can seek to understand them more fully, and in the process begin to understand the mind of God.
Faith is the “conviction of the truth of anything, belief – with the predominant idea of trust (or confidence) whether in God or in Christ, springing from faith in the same.” Faith is to believe in God and to trust in God. Faith is to be so convinced of God that we are confident in Him.
What are some examples of faith in action? We are confident in the salvation Jesus Christ offers that we believe on Him. We are confident in the power and work of the Holy Spirit that we allow Him to perform His transforming work in our lives. We are so convinced about a call God has placed on our hearts or a direction He has given us that we are confident in pursuing it, and come what may, we are undeterred. We are confident that, so long as we are obedient to Him and following Him in every way, God will provide in our time of need. We are confident that as we forge ahead down a path God is illuminating that it will lead us safely to heaven, even if we are unable to see around the next bend or over the next hill.
Or are we? Are we confident about those things? Yes, there will always be faith in God, but are we nurturing our faith in such a way that it is flourishing and blossoming into the kind of trust that takes God at His word despite the most terrible circumstances life can send our way?
Yes, it is true that the universe will find its way back to faith and that we cannot dispense with the existence of God. However, our belief in Him is no guarantor that faith will be strong. Believing that God exists and is real is not equivalent to believing that He will provide in the time of our greatest need when we are utterly incapable of working out our own circumstances.
This kind of faith requires training, daily feeding, building up from day to day. An individual does not wake up one day and decide to run a marathon. An individual wakes up one day and says I believe in running a marathon and begins a course of training to build up stamina, endurance, strength and ability. The one who shows up for a marathon without any training will not run very far before suffering serious bodily injury or even death.
Faith begins with a small step. If God is calling you or leading you in a certain direction, then the first step is to be confident that God will open the doors necessary for you to meet the task. Surely, great faith will be required in working for the Lord, so small faith must be exercised now and nurtured into the kind of faith that will one day be tested on the front lines of the spiritual battlefield.
Running into battle without ever having exercised our faith is certain death, extinguishing our work for the Lord and dishonoring the Lord’s call on our lives.
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