On Faith, Hope, and Love

Mark Bates preached an incredible sermon today about God's faithfulness. We're studying genesis this year and have been looking at Abram's relationship with God - specifically his faith. 

• First, Abram has faith in the promises of God. He trusts God will come through on his promise of land and children that number greater than the stars - even when both seem terribly improbable
  
• Then we see faith results in virtue. We're able to endure hardship, sacrifice for others, and serve with humility - not as a means of winning God's favor but because God's promise is better than the best I can imagine!
  

One of the greatest images he gave us today was that of hands: grasping hands show a lack of faith, whereas open hands show trust and hope in God's promises. We hoard what we believe we need or think we deserve because we just can't believe God will really provide for us as he says he will - grasping hands. Or, we can choose to trust, living with hands extended towards God's faithfulness.

I'm not desperate, I'm blessed. I can live in the margins. How fantastic is that!

In our college group, we rehashed a bit of the sermon and tried to discern between these three words: faith, hope, and love. We so often interchange them, pair them together, and use them to define the others without really understanding what they mean in the christian life. 

Here's what we came up with:

• Faith - belief in the past and future spoken word of God
• Hope - oriented towards the future goodness of God, making the promises of God personal
• Love - a present tense outward expression enabled by hope in God's promises 

I can live in the difficult margins of life on this earth because of these three: I know God's words are true, I have hope in their fulfillment and see them actualized even now, and I canto pour out love with joy because I am so enabled by such goodness and godliness!

I'm so so so blessed to have such solid teaching and incredible fellowship in this community at V7. Today truly felt like a commissioning for my summer: after such an exhortation to live simply and radically in light of God's enormous faithfulness to me and the sweet offers of prayers for my internship, my obedience, and my ability to love others this summer, I know I experienced another glimmer of restored and redeemed community!

So I'm feeling ready to charge forward with this summer. I had the most wonderful conversation with my host family tonight and I can't wait to meet them in just a week! Oh! And my Maine address (for those of you who've been asking) is:  11 Merriam St Portland, ME 04103.

Let me leave you with a verse from the hymn All for Jesus - we sang it today and the simple and familiar words really challenged me to live with open hands.

Since my eyes were fixed on Jesus, I lost sight of all beside

so enchained my sprit's vision, looking at the crucified.

What sweetness to look only upon Christ, our savior, my Jesus!