What’s So Important about Faith, Hope, and Love?
The Three Divine Sisters
Faith, hope, and love have been referred to as the three divine sisters. We can think of them as three beautiful sisters joined together hand in hand, swirling around as in a dance.
Eventually, faith and hope vanish from the scene and love is left dancing alone forever. This picture may appear odd until we realize that faith and hope were there to help love on her way, until she was mature enough to be alone. For she exists as the greatest of the sisters and deserves the preeminence—just as Christ remains the greatest of the sons of men and deserves the same.
Faith, hope, and love are also referred to as the theological virtues. The Christian life—in terms of our living in response to God and his new work in us—springs from faith, hope, and love. Everything we do as Christians relates to these three virtues and they all have a longing, an expectation, a desire that will one day be fully realized when Christ returns in glory.
To possess only one of these graces would be misery.
But to possess all of these graces is delight.
