[1 Corinthians 13:13 KJV] “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity”.
As we step out to do the first works with first love, our focus must be to overcome to the end. This is because there are many things that will try to cause us not to finish our races with first love, first faith, and first hope. There are many temptations along the way, including abounding iniquity, lack of spiritual understanding into the hope of our calling, allowing the love of other things to creep in, and the demonic work of darkness.
The Scriptures teach that there are three fundamental virtues that can help us to overcome to the end. Virtues are traits or qualities which dispose a person to conduct himself or herself in a morally good manner. Three of the fundamental Christian virtues that are most important for the now — these last days -— are faith, hope and love. These are the three most important Christian virtues that we must all strive to develop and engage in our walk with Christ
Apostle Paul teaches that we can overcome when we have;
Works of faith:
To work is to complete a specific task by physical energy and mental aptitude. There are many things you will not even attempt to do for God if you don’t believe or if you don’t have faith. It takes faith -— a lot of faith — to attempt certain things.
Labour of love:
To labour is to toil. Labouring, therefore, might not necessarily involve the completion of a task but the toil involved in accomplishing something.
It takes great love to accomplish certain important tasks. It took great love for the Son of God to die for the sons of men, that the sons of men would become sons of God. Indeed, the Lord did not have to do any work, but it was a labour. Labour may have torment and terror. He needed to love before He could make that sacrifice. If you want to finish and overcome to the end, you must be driven by love.
Patience of hope:
This is also another very great virtue. Sometimes, it takes a lot of hope to continue holding on to the faith and overcoming by the first works. There are times when what you are doing may not be yielding very great and excellent results; at that point, it takes a lot of patience of hope to keep pressing on. This is why Apostle Paul was committed to praying for the church in Thessalonica. He was mindful of their works of faith, labour of love and patience of hope. The Apostle always reminded himself of these things.
[1 Thessalonians 1:3 KJV] “Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father”;
I pray that you shall not miss these important things and that you shall press on till the end by them.
Be blessed, I love you!
Kofi Simpe
Prayer:
Father, please help me to work by faith, labour by love and hope in patience, Amen!
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