“REMEMBERING BEFORE OUR God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 1:3). These Epistles are a miracle of fresh variety. It is an amazing fact that Paul, writing to the different churches on the same subject, rarely repeated himself. The man’s mind was under the creative impact of the mind of Christ. Here he picks out three things he had used before—“So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13). Here he speaks of their “work of faith,” their “labor of love,” their “steadfastness of hope.” All three are “in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Outside of the Lord you can have work and labor and steadfastness, but all three lack a soul. There is no faith in the work, no love in the labor, and no hope in the steadfastness. In the end it means irksome work, laborious labor, and hopeless steadfastness—what Bertrand Russell calls “an unyielding despair.”
Being in Christ puts taste into everything. It puts faith in our work, for we are doing it for Him; love into our labor, for we labor for Him whom we love; and steadfastness into our hope, for we hope in Him.
A prominent Hindu official came to our ashram at Sat Tal. As he left he said to the group: “I came here without faith, or hope, or love. I am afraid I am going away without faith or hope, but here I have found love. I am taking that with me.” Without being in Christ that is what happens—life bumps along on broken springs. In Christ, work is worship, labor is love, and steadfastness is full of abounding hope. Life is living. The years are not tears. An Indian official said to a Christian, when the Christian suggested that the basis of a certain project be broadened to take in non-Christians: “You Christians began this, didn’t you? Well, you’d better keep it. For what you begin you complete. You never get discouraged.”
O Jesus, Lord, Thou art working a work of faith, laboring a labor of love, steadfastly hoping—give me Thy persisting, creative love. Thou dost not fail nor art Thou discouraged. Make me like that. In Thy name. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I shall not fail nor be discouraged until I have set love in my situation.
