11. Faith Hope and Love
Bless you readers! We are now on the last verse of this great chapter.
“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity (love).” 1 Cor. 12,13
“For now..”, “but then..”, here we see more evidence (yes, the Bible is evidence) of a totally different existence to come. “For now” what we see and know is very “in part”. But our existence with God will be one in which we shall “know even as also I am known.” Clearly we will know many things that we are currently unaware of. I do not know, but I imagine that God is not hiding any important information from us but that the things we currently don’t know are also an example of His perfect Fatherly Love and mercy toward us.
Verse 13.
“Now abideth …but”? Ever wonder why they “now adibeth”? I have. Simple. When we are with God we will no longer need faith. In this link if you read the definition you will see that once we are with God we will no longer need faith. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1. Won’t be needing that anymore.
“And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.” Rev. 22:5
Doesn’t leave a lot of room for things to hope for. But!! There is one thing that will will remain the same. God’s Love. And this is where our hearts and mind should be on things that will remain. When my faith is weak I remember God’s love (often in light of my failures to love). When I feel my hope diminished I remember God’s love and that even hope itself will someday itself be no longer needed.
God, our Father, is Love.
“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” John 14:2
What do you think the Love in that house will be like?