1 Thessalonians 1:3 – “We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

One of the cool thing that has stood out to me as we’ve read through the New Testament together is the recurring themes that appear through the writings of the Apostle Paul.

Here he focuses on faith, love, and hope.  The Big 3 are best known from their mention at the end of 1 Corinthians 13.

Notice the way he pairs up his verbs and nouns though.

Faith produces….love prompts…..hope inspires.

Faith ALWAYS produces something.  Love should ALWAYS be what motivates us.  Hope is ALWAYS what keeps us going.

It’s also fascinating to see that he lays out that the result of love is labor, the result of faith is work, and the result of hope is endurance.

Labor can be simply defined as: physical effort.

Work is simply defined as:  the result of the physical effort.

Endurance will see us through the difficult journey of turning labor into work and the hardships we face in the process.

That is powerful stuff.  I don’t know about you but there is a feast for my soul in just these few words.

By the way, of the Big 3, I think “hope” gets the short end of the stick.  We always talk about love – as well we should.  Faith gets an equal amount of play.  Hope is left in the role of the third wheel.

It is one of our primary jobs as a follower of Jesus to remain hope filled.

When hope runs low, we give up.  When hope runs low, we make stupid decisions.  When hope runs low, the labor of love and work of faith are in jeopardy.

One of the reasons I love this verse is because you can see all 3 working in conjunction and relation to one another.

Also, notice from the verse the source of our hope.

We don’t often end with questions, but I think it’s fitting on this Tuesday.

1.  What is your faith producing?  Is it the work of God in others?

2.  Is love what is motivating you?  If not, the labor could get poisoned or at the very least become wearisome.

3.  Where’s your hope-o-meter at?  If you’re running low, grab on to Jesus and allow him to blow fresh wind into your sails.  Your endurance will surprise you!

See you tomorrow….