The 12 Days of Christmas - Day 3

  
On the third day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
   Three French Hens
   Two Turtle Doves
   and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Three French Hens = three theological virtues:
1) Faith, 2) Hope, and 3) Love

FAITH.  There is a mystery to faith.  Faith is a belief in something or someone.  Faith stands in the gap between the reality of now and what one believes will happen in the future.  Faith takes work! 

The writer of Hebrews speaks of faith in this way:

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.  HEBREWS 11:1 

Recently, someone said to me: "Faith is hard!  

It's hard to believe in someone that you cannot see."

There is always an object to faith - what or who are you believing in?  True faith is not a set of doctrines or tenants, but a relationship with the one who is faithful and trustworthy - - deserving of trust.  The LORD, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is the one in whom we can fearlessly place our faith.

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.  DEUTERONOMY 7:9

Relationships take work and time to develop. We live in a culture where we often allow others to shape our opinion.  Take time to know the Lord before dismissing His love or taking it for granted. 

HOPE.  What is it that you hope for?  Hopes can be short-termed or focused far into the future in this life and for eternity.  When it comes to eternity, in whose trust are you placing your soul?

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.  1 PETER 1:3-9

LOVE.  When all is said and done, what remains?  The Lord says:

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.
But the greatest of these is love. 

1 CORINTHIANS 13:13

Grief has taught me much about love. Love is always expressed in the context of a relationship, where love flows out and is reciprocated.  Whenever there is a break in a relationship, love ceases to flow.  When someone dies, we experience an ultimate break in that relationship.  As we experience this, our love continues to flow, but is unable to be reciprocated, and we grieve.  

The Lord's promise is that true life is lived in relationship with Him.  His love never fails!  His love is always reaching out, calling everyone to receive His love and reciprocate it.  

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 JOHN 4:10-12

God loves you!  This is the greatest gift of all!