Faith, hope and love -- Hebrews 11

Hebrews 11:1-2 "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval." 39-40 "And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect."

Faith is a journey. In practical Christian lives, probably there's more failed faith than successful faith. That means, probably there're a lot of prayers go unanswered. If all faith works, then everybody will be healed, and everybody will be saved, there won't be any tragedies or disappointments...

To me, God is like a fisherman, and faith is like the bait that He's using. And we are the fish. God gives us a promise(bait), and we want to bite that bait. We want it so much that in the process of getting that promise we change. We die to ourselves. We give ourselves as a living sacrifice to God. And this dying and giving ourselves totally to God is the "approval" that He's seeking to have in us. In the end, whether we get to enjoy the bait or not is not His primary concern, "because God has provided something better for us"(v40) He wants to give Himself to us, which is far better than His promise. And more so, He wants to have us, "so that apart from us they would not be made perfect."(v40)

"But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love." (1Cor13:13)
"Love never fails. " (1Cor13:8)
"God is love." (1John4:8)

Faith can fail, hope can fail. But through faith and hope, we can get the approval of love, and love can never fail.