At the heart of all God’s teachings is a chain that explains how a person must reach God step by step: God calls; a person responds in faith, seeks, asks for God, and reaches Him. This writing considers how this chain is expressed within a person through faith, hope, and love.
A person does not arrive at God all at once. First he believes, then he seeks; as he seeks, he asks; as he asks, he waits; and in the end he draws near to love, that is, to God Himself. Now we see only in part, we know in part, and we do not yet understand fully. But this incompleteness does not stop a person; it calls him to seek by faith, to wait with hope, and to live in God through love.
For this reason, the three things Paul says remain – faith, hope, and love – can be read as three steps in the journey of seeking God.
Faith moves a person to seek God.
Hope moves a person to keep asking for God.
Love makes a person live in God.
Paul says:
1 Corinthians 13:8-13
Love never fails. Prophecies, tongues, and knowledge will pass away, because what we know is partial. But when completeness comes, what is partial disappears. Now we see only a dim reflection, but then we will see face to face. Now knowledge is partial, but then we will know fully. And these three remain: faith, hope, and love; the greatest of these is love.
Here there is a difference between the human person’s present state and final state. Now we know in part, see dimly, and understand incompletely. But this lack does not stop the person; on the contrary, it calls him to seek. Because a person seeks what he sees only dimly, asks for what he does not yet fully know, and walks in hope toward the day when he will see face to face.
Faith: Beginning to Seek God
Faith is the first step toward God. A person believes without seeing; draws near without fully knowing; begins to seek before he has fully understood.
Hebrews says:
Hebrews 11:6
“Without faith it is impossible to please God. Anyone who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
This verse directly connects faith and seeking. The person who comes to God first believes that He exists, and then believes that He does not leave those who seek Him unanswered.
Therefore, faith is not merely mental agreement. Faith is the power that raises a person up and begins the search for God.
If there is faith, seeking begins.
Because a person does not seek a God he does not believe in.
Hope: Continuing to Ask for God
After seeking begins, a person does not immediately see everything. The road is sometimes waiting. Prayer sometimes grows in silence. A person asks for God but does not yet see Him face to face. This is where hope enters.
Paul says:
Romans 8:24-25
In this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is not hope. If we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait for it patiently.
Hope is holding on to what is not yet seen. For this reason, hope is the continuity of asking. A person asks for God, but does not quickly give up. He waits, seeks, knocks, and endures.
Here, asking for God is not a momentary desire. It is a longing nourished by hope.
But in this waiting, a person is not alone:
Romans 8:26
“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.”
The person who waits in hope sometimes does not know what to ask. But the Spirit helps in our weakness. So asking for God is not only an effort sustained by human strength; the Spirit also helps the person in this asking.
Faith begins the seeking.
Hope keeps the asking alive.
The Spirit helps in weakness.
Because a person hopes for what he does not see, and what he hopes for he continues to carry in his heart.
Love: The Essence of Reaching God
Paul says, “the greatest of these is love.” Because faith moves a person to seek, hope teaches him to wait, but love brings him to the goal. In the end, love remains. Because final nearness to God is lived in love.
John says this very clearly:
1 John 4:16
“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”
Here reaching is no longer merely arriving at a place. Living in God means remaining in God’s love. A person seeks God and asks for God; but in the end, what he seeks is not only knowledge, an answer, or help, but God Himself.
And God is love.
In the same chapter, John says that living in God is also known by the Spirit:
1 John 4:13
We know that we live in Him and He in us because He has given us of His Spirit.
Therefore, love, living in God, and the giving of the Spirit are not separate from one another. God is love; the one who lives in love lives in God, and God lives in him. This life is witnessed by the Spirit of God.
For this reason, love is the greatest truth at the end of the road. Faith and hope are necessary on the way; but love is lasting union with God.
Seeing Face to Face
The word in 1 Corinthians 13, “Now we see only a dim reflection, but then face to face,” gives the essence of this journey. Now we seek. Now we ask. Now we know in part. But in the end, we will see face to face.
So faith, hope, and love can be read this way:
Faith – seeking God.
Hope – asking for God.
Love – reaching God.
Without faith, seeking does not begin.
Without hope, asking does not continue.
Without love, reaching is not complete.
Conclusion
A person seeks God by faith.
He asks for God with hope.
He lives in Him through love.
The three things Paul says remain are like three deep forms of the road to God:
Faith sends a person onto the road.
Hope keeps him on the road.
Love brings him to the goal.
Because the One sought is God.
The One asked for is God.
And in the end, the One reached is God who gives Himself in love.
That is why the greatest of these is love.
#askforGod #oneshallask #oneshallaskcom
