Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13

These days it’s hard to see that whole heaven-on-earth thing Jesus taught us to pray for in the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-10). Everywhere we look we see divisiveness taking over hearts from east to west and Covid continuing to disrupt lives, bankrupt businesses, and interrupt all of our “normal”. Fear is the driving force behind all the chaos and all the division, but there are three currencies in God’s kingdom, and fear isn’t one of them. It doesn’t come from God, so it definitely has no place in His Kingdom. 

We all want and need less fear, but much more faith, hope, and love, and as followers of Christ, it is up to us to show others why we have faith, hope, and love (1 Peter 3:15). But sometimes we let fear stop us from doing just that. When we let fear control us, we are living just like nonbelievers. If we all lived everyday with faith, hope, and love, these selfless principles as our main priorities, life on this earth would feel a lot more like heaven, and fear would be out of the picture. Only faith, hope, and love will meet us in heaven, and though they are necessary in this life, it will be different there. Love outranks faith and hope because once we see Jesus face to face, faith will become sight (2 Corinthians 5:7) and hope will become experience (Rom. 8:24). Love alone is eternal, because God is love (1 John 4:8), and God is forever!

True faith in Jesus looks back and reminds you what He has already done for you. True hope looks forward to what is yet to come and reminds you that you don’t need to panic about the future because He’s got that taken care of. And true love? That is here now, and it looks just like Jesus. True love looks around to others—not back and not ahead, but around. It sees all those people whose eternal home is not yet heaven, and it shows them the way. As you continue to navigate these difficult days, choose to not let ever-increasing conflict take over your heart. The Lord is your Shepherd, not the politicians or activists or doctors or anyone else in the headlines. Keep your eyes on your Shepherd and follow in His perfect footsteps. He knows the way! You are loved!