God’s Love Triangle

But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
I Corinthians 13:13

I had read of decks that had collapsed, and how the building inspectors found that they had been secured to the wall of the house with nothing more than some nails or with maybe three or four bolts. Those decks which had collapsed were essentially standing on one support. And that’s not enough. It certainly won’t resist a lot of stress.  If you have not one but two supports, they help each other; they are better than one. But they are still not strong enough. The geometry doesn’t quite work, not just yet.  It’s very easy to fix this. All you need to do is to install braces at each corner, where the vertical meets the horizontal. It will steady the deck. And I know why; because the strength is in the triangle.  It’s simple geometry. The triangle is a rigid form. It won’t flex or give. It’s solid. The strength is in the triangle.  Under a heavy load, a square distorts easily. It ends up looking like a parallelogram. If you put a brace diagonally across the middle of the square, you create two triangles and a much stronger shape. In fact, the triangle is the only shape that cannot be deformed without changing the length of one of its sides.

God’s love triangle is just the thing for a life to stand on. The greatest of these is love, yes; but love needs something else to give it strength.

• Remember your geometry; the strength is in the triangle. 
• Love stands on hope; and hope stands on faith; you need all three, working together, before your life will work. The strength is in the triangle.

Hope supports love
Work with me on this now. Hope is healthy self-love. Hope is believing that the future is possible. Hope means that you believe that your future has significance. Hope is confidence; it’s not arrogance.  So, if I have hope and love, is that going to do it? Will my life work now?  Once again, you see, self is the problem. If all I have to go on is my own self-image, then I’m going to collapse. I know that I am not enough even with love. 

Two won’t do it by themselves.  One brace can be pushed around at will. Add a second and things are some better, but they can still collapse. There is something else I need before my life can be strong and can stand. The strength is in the triangle. 

Faith supports love 
Without faith, the triangle collapses.  Without a trusting relationship to the living God, nothing else will stand.

• Faith is trusting that ultimately the fate of this world is in the hands of almighty God.
• Faith is betting it all on one great premise: that God is in control.
• Faith is knowing that the God who raised Christ Jesus from death is able to redeem every broken life and heal every shattered circumstance.

Faith is the absolute, bedrock foundation, without which nothing else works, nothing else makes sense.  Faith, hope, and love go together, but it is love that energizes faith and hope. Love is the fire that kindles faith and love is the light that turns hope into certainty. 

The strength is in the triangle. Having FAITH in God will bring HOPE which is born again in our hearts through His everlasting LOVE. And you will say with the great apostle, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13

When the past is conquered by faith in Christ, and the future is tamed by hope in Jesus, then the present is reborn to be offered to God freely.  We can love God without ulterior motives. We can live in grace and love others. We are freed to forgive and be merciful, because Jesus has our whole past, present and future in his hands. 

One day, faith and hope will not be necessary. All that will remain is love. Why?  Because God is love and He is eternal!

Scripture to claim:
"This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.  John 15:12