Faith, Love & Hope

Every strong building has an even stronger foundation. The foundation is what absolutely everything else rests upon, so when I started meditating on 1 Thessalonians 1:3, it quickly became obvious to me that this is a very foundational principle.

In this scripture, the Apostle Paul is telling the Church that he remembers their "work of faith, labor of love, and endurance of hope" in our Lord. I’d like to break that down a little bit so you have a platform upon which to meditate while you’re sitting at your workstation:

• Our faith toward God is the foundation of all we do. In order to receive and walk in everything He promised to us, we have to trust Him, and you can’t trust someone unless you believe what they tell you. Reading the word increases our faith because when we are familiar with His promises, we learn to trust Him; when we trust Him, our faith is increased.
  
  
• Our love is the process for our interactions between each other. The very foundation of Christianity is God’s love for us. The scripture we see at all the football games (John 3:16) tells us that “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten son…”. His love is so very great and He expects the same from us. His love is unconditional and He expects our love to be unconditional. In other words, love your coworkers even if you have “issues” with them. You didn’t do anything to deserve the love God bestowed upon you, so your love should reflect the same grace toward loving a coworker or two.
  
  
• Endurance of your hope is what faith is really all about. You don’t have to “hope for” something you already have, so our endurance comes when we are waiting for the manifestation of the object hoped for. Which brings us to the scripture that says that “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” In other words, endure until you see your hope manifested!

Hope this brief foundation helps you build a great day.