Faith, Hope
and Love- The Greatest Is Love
By Senior Pastor Prince
Guneratnam
The comparative language
here must not be misunderstood as love being the best. Love is the greatest here
because love is the motivator for our faith and hope. Love is the backbone of
faith and hope. Faith and hope are twins; where there is faith, there is hope.
The Bible says that God loved the world that He had faith and hope that the
world will be saved. Similarly, a man who marries begins with love. His love
gives him faith to believe that he can win his beloved. This gives him hope to
pursue his love for her.
There is a beautiful story
in the Old Testament about a man who loved a woman even though she was unworthy
of his love. This is a rather uncommon story. Hosea is a prophet because God
called him not only to prophesy but also to live out His messages. Hosea was
living at a time when
The Lord told Hosea to marry
an adulterous woman. He therefore went and took Gomer to be his wife. After a
while, they had a child and God told Hosea to call his son “Jezreel” which
means, “I will bring judgment if
God told Hosea to name the
daughter “Lo-Ruhamah” which means “I will no longer show love” (Hosea
1:6). After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah,
Gomer had another son and the Lord said to call him “Lo-Ammi” which means “You
are not mine” (Hosea 1:9). Here, “Lo” means “no” or “not”. Gomer left Hosea and
went after her lovers (Hosea 2:5). One
may encourage Hosea to give up on his unfaithful wife but he did not do that because
of his love for her.
How do we win a backslider,
the ungrateful, the unworthy and the prodigal family member or friend? Through
faith, hope and love; and the greatest is love. Evangelism must be done with
the love of God. Paul said, “For Christ’s love compels me to preach the
gospel.” Evangelism must be done with God’s power and strength, and it is the
love of God in us that will touch the sinner and draw him back to God. This was
what had been missing in the prophets Jonah’s life. He was lacking in God’s
love for the lost in
How can we have God’s love? Romans
5:5 tells us that “hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his
love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given to us.” This is why
it is so important that you be full of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit
who will help you live the Christ-like life. He will enable you to go to the
world and reach out to the sinners.
What did Hosea do to win back Gomer? God said
to him, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another
and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they
turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin-cakes” (Hosea 3:1). Hosea allowed
the love of God to work in his life. He used the chords of love to teach Gomer.
He allured her and spoke tenderly to her. When he lovers sold her, Hosea bought
her back (Hosea 3:2). He then called the children “Ruhamah” meaning “I will
have mercy” and “Ammi” meaning “You are my people.” When the love of God was
shown to Gomer, the adulterous woman, two things happened to her. She left her
lovers and was reconciled with her husband, Hosea (Hosea 3:2). Faith, hope and
love; the greatest is love. If we desire to see sinners come into the
Is love the motivation? Seek
for the fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit on your life. Jesus says, “But you
will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you; and you will be my
witnesses in
(All the above quotations are from the New International
Version)
Issue 45, May – June 1997