1 - Introduction - Living like a real Christian FAITHFULNESS | Page 6

Prayer Thought: Won’t you reflect today on some of the radical statements of Jesus. Maybe
take your Bible and systematically, over the course of the next week, read a few chapters of
the gospels everyday. Take a pen and underline all the radical statements of Jesus, contemplate
them, ponder them, meditate on them and then, in prayer, commit yourself to them again.
God bless you big time as you do this.

WEDNESDAY
1 Corinthians 13
The reading for today is possibly one of the most popular passages in the Bible. Traditionally,
it is known for its profound statements as they reflect on the issues of love, but the more I read

1 Corinthians 13 the more I realise that it is a whole lot more than just that. 1Corinthians 13
is, for me, a statement of radical lifestyle. The final words at the end of the passage are the
three keys to a radical Christian life; it says this, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and
love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Faith, hope and love are, without a doubt, three of the greatest signs to a radical Christian
faith. Let’s look at them briefly:
FAITH – when we talk about what it means to trust God and believe in His promises, we are
moving into an area that the world just cannot understand. They cannot believe that we could
trust a God that we cannot see and they find it difficult to comprehend the concept of putting
your life into the hands of a God whom you cannot see. A radical Christian faith is one that
believes that we should store up treasure in Heaven, rather than here on earth. For a picture
of radical faith one could look to a child, because child-like faith is just so radical. In John 6
we have the story of the child who gave Jesus his fish and loaves; his faith was not like the
faith of the disciples because he really believed that the little that he had in the hands of Jesus
would make an enormous difference. A true Christian faith believes this truth and will seek to
live it out.
HOPE – a radical Christian belief really believes that we can have hope in God to make
something of our messy lives. It is the same hope that causes us to believe in a place called