Of The Three Virtues

The apostle, St Paul stated in 1Corinthians13:13 "And now abideth, faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." CS Lewis stated that these are considered to be the Cardinal virtues of our faith. GK Chesterton once pointed out that each of these virtues have one thing in common. They can only ever be applied when you have no reason to, or indeed an overwhelming reason not to. They are completely unreasonable.

Faith is the first exponent of this idea. It is a belief in what you might not understand and cannot comprehend. It is the evidence of things unseen. Terry Pratchett in a novel of his once stated that "Evidence is that which is seen." So, using this as my definition, faith is that which is seen of that which is unseen. What evidence is there of my faith? Simple. That I am an honourable man? That I am an honest man? That I abide by the tenets and commandments of my faith? No, in themselves these prove very little indeed. What proves the existence of my faith is the fact that I can be an honourable man, an honest one and that I can abide by the tenets and commandments of my faith. God would not ever order us to do something without providing us the means with which to do it. That is faith and how one can see it in action.

Paul also said that love was the most important. A lady that had had 22 children (I'm from a family of 6 kids which I thought was quite crowded) once said to Groucho Marx that she loved her husband. His reply was "I love my cigar but I take it out once in awhile." Now, that little injection of humour aside, Paul makes excellent points in 1Corinthians13 about both the nature of love and the character of love. But Groucho makes an excellent point with what we ought to do with it. Love is not simply something to be shared between two people on an intimate basis. Rather, it is something that needs to be brought out to be any good. Bonhoeffer remarks in his book "The Cost of Discipleship" that as christians are the light of the world we ought to be bringing definition to it, as light brings definition all that it illuminates. If we live the lives of love that God intends for us, it is impossible for the world not to see the God in us.

Terry Pratchett (I do tend to quote him quite a bit, don't I?) stated that hope was at once a wonderful yet terrible thing. And I find myself unable to argue with him. Chesterton defined hope as "the power of being cheerful in circumstances which we know to be desperate." Hope is kind of the main thrust of what I wanted to write about anyway, which is why I have saved it till the end. Faith empowers the most, love is the most important. Hope is the most terrible. And why would such a thing be terrible? Because it is hope ( in it's original meaning being a confident expectation) which allows a man no rest. Faith may tell him that he has the power to do all things but it also reminds him that everything is in God's hands. Love may tell him to do the best for everyone around him, but love when given, is returned and can sustain a man in his darkest hour. But hope forces a man into continuing, even after his strength is spent, for it allows him no peace until it is fulfilled. It is the cause of almost every kind of internal conflict because every time that man may think about his accepting his failure, hope rallies again, rising him back to his feet for one more round. A hopeless man may indeed be a walking corpse, but a hopeful man is a man that cannot be stopped.

And thank God for that.

Josh