Fast Day 1: Faith, Hope & Love

By Mandi McIsaac

1 Corinthians 13:13 “So now faith, hope and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love.”

As we look out to the year ahead of us we see that it is uncharted and yet to be lived.

There will be many things buying for our attention. What will you choose?

How will you live out this new year?

The world will encourage you to accumulate more and we will seek to, in one form or another. Goods, gifts, knowledge…  Not all accumulation is bad.

But we all have to ask ourselves, what will my focus be in this new year? Things that are temporal or things that are eternal?

In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he is challenging them in chapters 12-14 to look beyond the temporal and concentrate their efforts on things that will last for eternity.

Faith, hope and love.

These three are the true ways the kingdom of God is represented. But the greatest of these is love.

God is love (1 John 4:8)

God’s love is eternal (1 John 4:9)

Our love is eternal (1 John 4:7)

So as you gaze out over the landscape of this new year, before you take a step, will you allow yourself to receive the love God is offering? Will you supplement the faith that God has given you? Will you let the hope you possess bring light into the darkness of this generation? Will you love more?

Prayer points:

1. That we would diligently seek God in all we do (Hebrews 11:6)

2. That we would choose daily to use our time more wisely (Ephesians 5:15-16)

3. That we would not fall to the temptations of the temporal, but be empowered by the Holy Spirit to live for the eternal (1 John 2:15-17)

4. That our roots would grow down into God’s love and keep us all strong (Eph 3:17)

5. That we would be known by our love for one another (John 13:35)