Faith, Love, Hope

We continually remember before our God & Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love & your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 1:3 NIV)

As I was reading this today, it gave me the thought that this is how great things start.  What a thre step process.  Step one is faith.  In order to do something great you have to start with faith.  Faith is what causes you to be able to do something bigger than yourself.  It forces you to stop relying on your power & start relying on Gods power.  Faith is what let's you do something even when everyone else tells you it's impossible.  You have to start with faith.
     Step number 2 is love.  You have to have love if you're going to be pushed to attempt something great.  I think love is a two parter.  The first part would be love for what you are doing.  In order to do something great, you will need that love to keep you going when the work gets hard.  Without love for what you are doing the work will get to hard & you'll give up because it simply becomes work.  The second part of it is love for who you are doing it for.  First of all you need to be doing it for Christ which will in turn cause you to love others & therefore attempt something great for them.  When we put Christ first it gives us the love for others to serve them.
      Step number 3 is hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.  When we start the journey in faith, we're excited about the vision of what we believe will happen.  Then we add love & that love pushes us when things get tough.  Hope in Jesus Christ is what allows us to stay the course when Satan & others start telling us why this could never happen.  Those times will come when you try to do something great for Christ.  We just have to remember where our hope lies.  It's not in us, it's in Jesus Christ.
     So today get your faith up.  Step out of the boat.  That's how you walk on water.  Let your love for Jesus Christ & for others propel you to do that great work.  And always remember that your hope is in Jesus Christ.  There's nothing He can't do!