1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 – We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. .

THEME OF THE DAY. THE TRIAD FOR CHRISTIAN LIVING. The Apostle Paul never drifted away from the simplicity, as well as direction, with which the Christian life is to be lived. When it came to simplicity, he told a struggling church that had lost this simplicity, “And I, when I came to you, brothers and sisters, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:1-2). As for direction in the Christian life? He identified three virtues; faith, hope, and love which are to direct and empower our walks with the Lord Jesus. He did so in the great “love chapter” of the Bible – “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). And he did so in today’s scripture affirming the genuineness of the Thessalonian believers in their walks with the Lord Jesus.

In thinking of these virtues, we must ensure we go beyond just looking at these as character traits to be developed in our hearts. These are virtues that are to renew the mind, enflame the heart, and move the will into daily actions. The Christian life has never been or ever will be a life of just passive acknowledgement of Biblical facts. Christianity is always profession AND practice. We learn to do. We gain knowledge to act. The Christian is a person who is growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus that leads to an active life of living out that grace and knowledge in Christ (2 Peter 3:18). And that living is defined in the triad of Christian living – faith, love, and hope.

First, faith may be simply viewed as a life of trusting obedience to God’s Word. Do a study of how Jesus defines faith in the Gospel. True faith always has obedience attached to it. In the Apostle Paul’s words to the Thessalonians, he affirmed them for their “work of faith”, not just a profession of faith. True faith is revealed as true by purposeful obedience to God’s Word.

Next is the virtue of love. The Christian life is a message of love – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). A loveless Christianity is not Christianity. And when applied to how we live the Christian life, love is the motivation. Everything we do is to be done in the strength and under the control of Christ’s love (2 Corinthians 5:14). It is love, holy love, that puts reality in the message of the Gospel and lets the world see the reality of Him who is the Gospel.

The final element in the triad of the Christian life is hope; particularly hope in the coming of our Lord. Coupled with the obedience of faith and motivation of love, the hope of our Lord’s return sustains us in the day-to-day warfare of the Christian life. Why? We look beyond the seen to the unseen. We learn to adopt the attitude of the Apostle Paul, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). Our hope in Christ weans us from the world and allows us to live out our Christian lives with a heavenly-worldview and thus able to endure all things with joy and contentment.

Yes, our Christian life is to be simple; Christ-centered. It is also to be directional; living out the Christian triad of faith, love, and hope.

PRAYER: “Father, help me daily to exercise the virtues of faith, love, and hope in my walk with You.”

QUOTE: “Faith is the Word obeyed; love is the motivation of obedience; and hope is what keeps us doing both.”