Have you ever felt lower than a snake’s belly, or ever thought you were a vile roach who encroached on the grace of God? Think again—flip through the pages of the Bible and you’ll see you’re on the receiving end of God’s gifts.

• The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus—Romans 6:23
• Thanks to God for His unspeakable gift—2 Corinthians 9:15
• The gift of God—Ephesians 2:8-9
• Every good and perfect gift is from above—James 1:17

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul spoke of gifts in a different context. He said there are three that remain. Two of these, faith and hope, are great gifts, but it is the third gift, love, that Paul says is the greatest and reigns supreme.

Through faith we believe the unbelievable, and hope sustains us when everything seems hopeless. Love, however, is the gift that allows us to love the unlovable and pardon the unpardonable.

In I Thessalonians 1:3, Paul spoke of “remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The New Testament repeatedly emphasizes the strong correlation between these three gifts. John focused on it in I John 3:1-3:

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

Think of these gifts within this context:
• Love is the foundation
• Faith is empowering belief
• Hope is the motivation to remain steadfast

There are cultures and societies that are void of Christ’s love, have little faith, and are all but void of hope. The empty tomb really does make all the difference in the world. Because Christ rose again we have faith, hope and love–and all three are gifts your gifts from God.