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Now Abide These Three

Love, Paul tells the Corinthians never fails; it never ends. In speaking about the gifts of the Spirit he tells them eventually some of their current gifts will end but that there are three things that will continue: faith, hope, and love. These last three are related to one another in a variety of ways for disciples of Jesus. Faith, probably better understood as faithfulness, fidelity, or even allegiance speaks to an on-going alignment with Jesus as our teacher and mentor. Living our lives in consonance with the way in which Jesus lived his is the very basic expectation of a disciple and the first evidence that a disciple is, in fact, a disciple. Being gentle, being kind, and such like, but at the same time not failing to align ourselves with Jesus and the God to whom he points are the parameters of a disciple’s life.

 Hope provides a bit of the reasoning that we can continue to be disciples, and points in a couple directions. Hope as we know, isn’t the childish, “I hope I get a red wagon for Christmas” sort of longing but an assurance that what is expected or has been promised will eventually occur or arrive. We hope in the resurrection in this sense, and in an eventual more full life with God. Hope isn’t though just a looking forward to something; it is also the grounding of that looking forward. The assurance that is hope is that from which arises our determination to live as and toward the likeness of Jesus. Because our faith is what it is, we live in a state of hope – of sure expectation that what we believe, what we have been promised, what we have had exampled for us – is true, right now. God is, and Jesus incarnated led us into a life that is the best life to live while we are on this life. Hope in this sense approaches certainty as we experience the truth of Jesus in our lives today.

 Love, understood as a volitional self-giving for the nurturing of the other is built recursively almost on the foundation of aligning with God as disciples of Jesus, and living in the assurance of hope that this life is best lived as a disciple. Jesus showed us what love does – gives entirely of the self for the good of those who need what love offers – whether they know it or not. It is in this self-emptying that we find that we are filled up with true life. We are transformed in that filling to become like Jesus and our souls and hearts resonate with that love so that we are assured that what we know in the loving is true.

 We see then that we might even work the three backward. Emptying ourselves and being filled and transformed with love makes us sure that what we have been promised and what we expect are unmovable and sure. Because of that assurance, we become more and more faithful and aligned with God in his work and life in this world. Faith, hope and love are so intertwined that if one continues they must all continue – they cannot be separated from one another.

 Faith, hope and love. Now abide these three.

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