I Corinthians 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Have you ever wanted to help someone but knew that your efforts would be in vain? How do you give hope to someone when the person does not want to hear about the Giver of hope?
You may have heard about the famous basketball player and his girlfriend who left on a boating trip with the basketball player’s brother. Weeks later the brother turns up trying to get money by using the basketball player’s identification. To add further to the mystery, the basketball player’s brother dies in the hospital before any charges can be filed. The two were still missing at sea. Two weeks later one of my business acquaintances missed work for almost a week and no one would tell me where he was. When he returned I called and talked with him for a few minutes. He advised me that he had gone out west for a memorial service. It was for his niece, the girlfriend of the basketball player. According to my friend, the brother admitted that he killed them and threw their bodies in the Pacific Ocean. While grieving the loss of his niece, my friend’s mother told him that she has terminal cancer and will probably not live to see Christmas.
This devastation caused him to turn inward, become angry at life and the world, and unable to truly express his feelings. He had not experienced a relationship with the Lord and after a few words with him it was apparent that mentioning the Lord’s grace, forgiveness, and love was not wise counsel.
After letting him talk for a few minutes, I asked, “How are you really?” He wouldn’t answer, so I asked him the same question again. After the third time, he broke down and said that it seemed that life was hopeless. We talked for a while longer and the only thing I could do was tell him I was available 24 hours a day to listen and wanted him to never feel that a telephone call from him was an inconvenience. I could have told him about the hope that comes from knowing Jesus Christ at that time, but I knew that he was not receptive to my words. His pain is too great to listen and truly hear.
The only way I can help is to be there for him when his pain becomes too strong to bear alone. Privately, I prayed for him daily. It’s tough to feel helpless when you see your friends in pain. For some of us, it’s natural to want to fix the problem and give them hope, love, and grace. We want God’s timetable to be our timetable.
In today’s scripture, faith is the foundation and content of God’s message to us; hope is the attitude and focus of tomorrow; and love is the action. We must love the person where they are today, believing in the faith of God’s promise for us, with hope being our Christian reflective attitude of life’s good and bad experiences.
Look around, we all know people who are experiencing hopelessness in their lives. Pull along side them. By being a friend who cares about the whole person we can witness the Lord’s love and give hope when the door of their life opens. Just be there for them.