1 THESSALONIANS 1:2-3 – We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

THEME OF THE DAY. THE TRIAD OF CHRISTIAN LIVING. We live in a complex world. Just think for a moment how complex life may easily become. Even with small things. Like getting a new phone, computer, or car. Even going through a grocery store. I remember being sent to the store for a simple task of getting a box of cereal. I was quite confident of the ease of this chore. I am not a fan of shopping. Despise it. Browsing in stores or mails? Not happening with me. Well, this chore was a piece of cake. Until I got to the cereal aisle in the grocery. Right before me was a thousand options in an aisle that stretched beyond the horizon. Okay. Maybe not a thousand and maybe not that long, but it might as well have been both! So many choices. So many attractions. So simple but so complex. Life is that way too – many distractions, many choices, and simplicity goes out the window. And the complexity of our world, if allowed, will creep into our spiritual lives having devastating results.

God has not made the Christian life complex. He has laid out the simplicity in His Word of our walking with Him. Granted, simplicity does not mean easy, but simple it is and this simplicity of the Christian life unfolds in today’s scripture with the triad of Christian living – faith, love, and hope. Let’s consider their simplicity as it applies to daily walking with the Lord.

First, the simplicity of the work of faith in the Lord Jesus is purposeful obedience to His Word. The genuine nature of saving faith is that it leads to a directional life of obeying the Lord. This is what God calls us to – the life of simple, not easy, obedience to His Word. This work of faith is the foundation of the Christian life. We are saved to obey.

Next, the simplicity of the labor of love in the Lord Jesus is the motivation behind all we do, all the works of faith or our obedience. We are saved to not only obey but for that obedience to be motivated by love, for the Lord and for people. Without love, faith is dead. With love, faith is alive and properly motivated.

The final part of the Christian triad for living is the steadfastness or patient hope in our Lord Jesus. And it is hope, the hope of Christ’s return, the hope of heaven, and the hope of final deliverance from sin and this world that sustains us in the Christian life. To do the work of faith, obedience; the labor of love, motivation; we need an “energy” source to sustain both. It is found in hope. Hope is powerful for it moves us to look ahead in anticipation of the coming of the Lord with the expectation to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant” because the work of faith and labor of love have been sustained by hope.

So, Christian, let’s ask the Lord to help us not make complex what He declares is simple – the Christian life defined and lived by its triad – the work of faith, labor of love, and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to not make the Christian life complex when You have made it simple.”

QUOTE: “Faith in action, love motivating, and hope sustaining sums up all the Christian life.”