The Three Essentials
Pastor said that a wise man once told him “a pulling mule can’t kick.” If you keep the mule moving, he has no time for idle shenanigans. We, the body of the church, cannot sit idle, even in this time of shut-in and lock down. Our buildings may be empty, but we’ve been deployed to keep moving, to keep reaching out to those in need, not just of material necessities, but of spiritual guidance and answers to the chaos we’ve come to know as COVID 19, or the Corona Virus. Pastor said the man also told him to preach the front page. What’s on our front page today…the word essential.
Who is essential? Anyone in the medical field, food and agriculture, first responders…the list goes on. But above all else, the bible tells us that there are three things essential for the believer, and they are faith, hope and love. Webster’s describes essential as “absolutely necessary; extremely important.” Absolutely and extremely…those are pretty strong words. In this crazy pandemic, when all that’s being spread is fear, the church needs to be counteracting that with absolute and extreme faith. It is said that phrases like “fear not” and “do not be afraid” are listed 365 times in the bible…that’s one for every day of the year. We must continue to dispel the uprising of fear with an uprising of faith every day until people start catching it, so they’re no longer afraid of catching the virus.
The next essential is hope. Without hope, we despair with a lack of expectation or anticipation. These two essentials are tied together in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Having hope means that we trust in the things we can’t see instead of what we do see. We can’t see the virus but we know it’s there because of the results…we’ve seen or known people who’ve contracted the virus. We can’t see God, but we know He’s there because of the results…we ourselves have been pulled from the pit with an assurance of everlasting life, we’ve seen miracles, signs and wonders, of His goodness and grace.
The last essential, is love. This isn’t the mushy, touchy, feely kind of love, we’re talking about love in action. Pastor called it, “scripture with legs!” You wouldn’t serve pork chops if you invited a Jewish friend to dinner, so don’t do things that may harm your brother. Yes, as a church who believes in the mighty power of God over all the universe, we could have bucked the system and kept our doors open, but is that what’s right for our brothers? Maybe not. We must learn to limit our liberty by our love. Our desire to love others and put them before ourselves must be greater than the need to fulfil our desires and our own right to freedom.
1 Corinthians 13:13 “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” According to Paul, love may be the greatest of the three, but they are ALL essential. Just like the ingredients in a cake, individually they aren’t anything, but when mixed together with the right balance, they create something wonderful. You ARE essential; God created you to be mixed and balanced out with other believers, so that together, you’d create something beautiful…the Church…the bride of Christ. Let someone else know today that they are essential too, by sharing with them your three essentials…faith, hope and love.