What about joy?

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:13, that the greatest gifts in Christianity are Faith, Hope and Love. Love is declared the Champion of this powerhouse union of three. Love is the overwhelming trait and because of this truth, faith and hope reign as companions of love. Scripture has much to say about faith. In Matthew 17:20-21 it reads, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move. Nothing is impossible for God”. If faith moves mountains, that is a rather big punch, congratulations are in order for the power of faith indeed. Hope has a powerful swing in scripture too. I don’t know the record for the longest home-run in baseball history, but I do know that hope is an out of the park experience. Clearly hope is a bases loaded, bottom of the ninth, two outs, and a 3/2 count situation with the score tied. The Bible declares that hope is that which pushes us, lifts us backup, stabilizes us on our feet, helps us to regain our confidence and so much more. Isaiah 40:31 reads, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint”. It is clear to see the reason why we need hope in our lives and why we need to share hope with others. Love is an action word, or at least in my well-house of thinking. Love is something that we see, not something that we say. The problem with the word love today, is that many use the word without the slightest understanding of where love came from nor how it behaves. Love came down at Christmas, the child born was named Jesus. Love is a free unattached action given solely to the benefit of another person. The problem again with many of us, we attach love to the condition you do what I say and what I want you to do. Please note that this is not the requirement of God when He sent His son Jesus to die in our place. His gift of forgiveness is totally free, that’s love in action. In this column of faith, hope and love, there is one thing that is not mentioned in this powerhouse perfection of three. Nehemiah, the Old Testament Prophet, addresses a by-product of living a life of faith, hope and love. Nehemiah however, lived in a time when things were not so well. Matters of faith had gone haywire in Jerusalem, there were no city walls, the walls of Jerusalem had been destroyed, the Jewish people were living oppressed lives, hope had been crushed by a burdened of debt and love had lost its luster because of a lack of practice. The by-product of faith, hope and love is joy. Nehemiah wrote “The joy of the Lord is my strength”. Today the world is in a desperate need to see joy demonstrated as the by-product of our faith, The world desperately needs to hear words of hope, but if they see our joy, because of our hope, that can be a witness. Hate, disdain, unforgiving attitudes, are the practice of the day, this is nothing new, but today, the world needs to see the action of love. Do you have one of these, two of these or all three of these? Faith, Hope and Love? If you only have one, then add the other two by all means. Do this, so you too can have joy! If you need help in getting to joy as the by-product of faith, hope and love, I am here to help. Until then