HOPE: THE GREATEST OF THESE

Whenever Arlena and I are visiting her Mom, we try to take a walk around the Belpre Park as often as possible. During the Christmas season the city erects a wonder lighting display. On the hill above the walking track they place three signs: faith, love and hope. The last time we walked the track all the decorations were taken down except the “hope” sign. Was it a message? I think so.

Yes, I realize that Paul tells us in his great salute to love that of the three – faith, hope and love – love is the greatest. And he is right, to a degree. If God is Love, and we believe God is, then if we can attain the love that is God, then we have attained perfection. But we have not and never will. All we can do is hope that in this life we can get close to loving as God loves. Yes, at times, we truly love with all our heart and mind and strength, but not always and not usually.

Then there is faith. In Hebrews we read (11:1) that “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” And, of course, it is. And, of course, we don’t have such a faith. We only hope we do. Yes, like love, there are times when we have great faith, faith almost enough to move a mountain, but we almost always fall short, especially when it comes to moving that mountain.

That is why I think hope is the greatest of the three. If we lose hope, we are truly lost. If a baseball team goes into a game feeling they have no hope of winning, they will definitely lose. They have to have enough faith in themselves to believe that if they step out onto the field, they will win no matter what the odds are against them in doing so. Hope gives strength to our faith and without hope, faith is lost.

The same is true for love. Hope allows us to hold on and not give up, having faith that our love will somehow in some way someday be returned. But if we are hopelessly in love with another, we believe we have no chance of that love being reciprocated and it won’t be. Hope begins inside us. Without hope love is lost.

Hope is what keeps us going day to day when our faith is weak, faith in others and faith in ourselves. Hope is what keeps us going each day when we feel unloved and alone, even if or when we somehow feel unloved by God. If hope is lost, all else is lost in the process. That is why we need to remind ourselves that we call hope, along with faith and love, the heavenly virtues, meaning they come from God.

What does that mean? It means that God will never allow us to become completely faithless or loveless or hopeless. Thus, to my point, it is hope that keeps us going when we have doubts about our faith and feel unloved or unlovable. That is why I believe that of the three – faith, hope and love – hope is the greatest. I hope the city never takes down that sign. It is a constant reminder of the importance of hope in our lives.