WEEK 2: HANG ON TO HOPE / DAY 10: Faith, Hope, & Love
By Pastor Courtney Hall (Tue. Dec. 7, 2021)
The second candle of Advent, whose light shines over this second week of Christmas preparation, symbolizes a variety of themes depending on the traditions of a given church or denomination, but faith & love are common references for this light. Our theme for this week’s devotions is HOPE. In these three (FAITH, HOPE, & LOVE) we have the trinity of God’s eternal characteristics described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:13, “and the greatest of these is love” (a summation that accords well with the inspired observation of 1 John 4:8 that “God IS love”). God gives His people FAITH as a gift (Rom 10:17; Ephes 2:8). Such “faith is confidence in what we HOPE for & assurance about what we do not see” (Heb 11:1). And such “hope does not disappoint, because the LOVE of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom 5:5). What a blessed reminder that we can confidently HANG ON TO HOPE this week as we PREPARE WITH PURPOSE, for the love of God alive in our hearts leads us in the pathway of faith for the purposes of our high calling in Christ Jesus.
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SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1 Corinthians 13:8-13; Hebrews 11:1-3; Romans 5:1-8; 1 John 4:7-19
"Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love."
(Verse above is 1 Corinthians 13:13.)
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