Faith, Hope and Love

We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father.
- 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

I found this passage the other night and it peaked my interest. In these verses, Paul is greeting the church in Thessalonica and makes a point to encourage them in their "work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope". The trio of faith, hope and love appear in many different places in the Bible, but I found the way Paul pairs up work, labor and steadfastness alongside the three very refreshing and a bit encouraging.

I think it's good to be reminded that while we walk with Christ, it is not through Him alone that we begin to have faith in Him or hope for the future, let alone love for others. It takes work on our part in order to achieve these things. We must be active in our faith, hope and love. We don't always have faith, but we need to work at it and take a step when it feels like the world is falling out from under us. We don't always want to love our neighbor, but we have to keep loving when we don't feel like it, because love is more than a feeling. Hope wanes in the night, but it's when it begins to fade that we need to grasp onto it the most.

Like anything else worth accomplishing, faith, hope and love take work and time. But remember that we are not alone. Through Him, all things are possible.