Faith, Hope, and Love Will Remain

1 Corinthians 13:13, "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

We don't often use the word abide in our everyday conversation, so let our study begin by taking a close look at abiding and what it means to us today. If someone asks you where you live, they mean something like, "Where do you carry on your life?" or "Where is the place in which you dwell?" "Where do you abide?"

In our verse, Paul characterizes the qualities of faith, hope, and love as those that have a place to stay. They have a dwelling place, and the three endure until the end. The transient things of this world will one day vanish forever. However, faith, hope, and love will remain. They will continue. They will stand. They will live.

But...Where do faith, hope and love live?

Our Lord Jesus dwells in each of His children. He abides in us and by His grace supplies us with the faith we need to believe and to obey Him; He pours hope into our lives that we might see with joyful expectation our home in Heaven; and He lavishes His love upon us so that we might love Him and love others.

Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

Colossians 1:27, "To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Ephesians 3:14, 16-19, "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height--to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

Pray this Prayer

Lord Jesus, since faith, hope, and love will endure until the end, let them dwell in me. Let me live in a manner that others will see You. To glorify you is all that I desire. Amen.