Virtues

Do you consider yourself a person of virtue? Some of the greatest virtues a human can have are listed in Corinthians:  “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”  (1 Corinthians 13:13) 

Faith, hope and love, three pillars of human existence.  Which are valuable, honorable, respectful qualities that should be in the hearts and minds of every human being.  A faith that believes in something bigger than itself, a hope that springs from the past to a brighter future and a love that lives each day for someone else’s good.

Now when it comes to faith we know that without it we can’t please God or operate in His kingdom.  We also know what Jesus told us about love; “They will know you (who you are, what you stand for…) by your love for one another” John 13:35.  And as important faith is in relation to God, hope is just as important.  We strive to love God and others we need to also pursue Hope with the same passion. 

But what about Hope?  How does Hope fit into the process in following God and becoming the human being He created?  Hope is a term tossed often out like a magic card.  Showing up at unexpected times of despair and trying to surprise us with sheer optimism, but that is not real hope.  You see hope is not a possible future, it is the future, hope is not bound up in the “I hope you have a better day” promise but is the reason a better day can even exist.

It’s a hope that is alive, a living hope constructed in the depths of the human experience where pain and sorrow meet and produce tears of loss and grief.  A place where grey hearts and lowly spirits slip away to a smile and a bright eye because there is a bigger hand now holding the brush of existence.

A guy named Paul (no relation) thousands of years ago wrote about how this hope is built into a person through the darkest of times.

^“1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. ³Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” (Romans 5:1-5)

So Paul gives us the formula on where rock solid hope comes from.  It comes from suffering.  It’s an unlikely place to expect optimism to break through.  It’s a hope that builds.  It builds into perseverance.  From that you learn the skills to continue on.  That in turn develops character.  Not just the qualities of integrity but the uniqueness of who you are.   From there you land with hope.

Solid hope is a built hope.  Hope that is built through a God of all hope, in Jesus Christ.  God who came to bring hope that does not disappoint and make a virtuous people!

“God help me in my darkest moments to become a person of hope as you have planned from the beginning of my life”