Sunday Rhapsody Of Realities - Abilities Of The Human Spirit

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV).

The Bible shows us that there’re three important virtues that God has given to human beings. Cats and dogs don’t have them, neither do demons nor angels; only human beings express these three virtues, as clearly delineated for us in the above scripture.

Now, faith is the ability to acknowledge the invisible and to act, in spite of sensory perceptions. Hope is the ability to expect and to project into the future. Love is the ability to give and accept value, trust, and fellowship. If you observed these definitions closely, you’d have noticed the emphasis on the word, “ability.” In reality, these three are abilities; they’re important abilities and virtues.

God gave these abilities of the human spirit to us as tools. If they’re tools, then we must use them. Let’s take faith for example: Jesus was with His disciples in a boat and was sleeping at the rear. A strong wind arose, and water began to flow into the boat. Agitated, the disciples woke Jesus up and said, “Master, don’t you care that we’re in danger?” But He responded by asking them, “Where is your faith?” (Mark 4:38-40). In other words, “You should have used your faith.”

The problem wasn’t the wind, neither was it the water; it wasn’t the circumstances either. What Jesus asked for was their faith. He was saying to them, “No matter what happens to you in this world, no matter the circumstances in which you find yourselves, what you need is your faith. Always put it to work.”

The only principles that’ll exist in the world to come are faith, hope, and love. That’s why it’s essential for us to understand them and put them to work. We’ve been given abilities that aren’t unstable, but remain always. They’ll always work and produce results for us.

PRAYER: Thank you, dear Father, for your indescribable gifts and abilities at work in me. As a good steward of your manifold grace, I’m perfected in every good work to do your will, doing that which is well-pleasing in your sight, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Further Study: Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 6:19 Which [hope] we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

1-Year Bible Reading Plan: Romans 9:30-10:1-21, Psalms 78
2-Year Bible Reading Plan: Ephesians 6:21-24, Isaiah 58