Faith, Hope, Love Action

I Thessalonians 1:2-3 - "We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. ³ We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ."

In 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 we see Paul testifies of the churches faith, hope and love. Remember in 1 Corinthians 13:13, Paul says, when we see God there are three things that will remain: faith, hope and love. In other words, these three things are the most important things to have and will be with us forever, even in the afterlife.

Faith, hope, and love are not just some loft thought or spiritual ideal. They are very tangible and real. As result, they will bring us to action. In Thessalonians we see this very clearly. Paul said, their work was produced by faith. The apostle James put it this way, faith without works is dead. We cannot forget the great chapter of Hebrews 11, where it speaks of what all the men and women of old accomplished through faith.

If you have faith that Jesus is the son of God, you will obey and worship Him.

If you have faith God is your provider, you will look to Him for your need and not worry.

If you have faith that you are victorious in God then you will show it by your attitude, speech and in what you do.

If you have faith that you are healed, then you will not go to a doctor, but will live as if you are healed.

Faith will always result in some kind of visible action.

In Thessalonians, he said, their labor was prompted by love. Love is no simply an emotion. It is a life giving force that produces action. If you love someone, you will not simply say it, but you will show it. Love will always spur us on to action. Some have said that compassion is love in action. I would say that love without passion is not love at all. Passion is a driving force, but in itself can be destructive if not accompanied by love.

Thirdly, their endurance was inspired by hope in Jesus Christ. Hope without an accompanying action is not hope at all. Hope is not something stagnant, but a living thing. Hope that is dead will bring inaction or negative action and death. Yet, true hope causes you not to be discouraged or give up. Hope will influence your decisions and actions. Hope will influence the way you see and think about things. Hope will bring life to seemingly hopeless situations.