Finding Faith, Hope, and Love with Turning Mountains into Molehills

For my post today, I wanted to share a excerpt from my upcoming book called “Finding Faith Hope, and Love in a Broken World.”

The Fall of Man

We live in a broken, sin-filled world that desperately needs to know Christ. Our faith, hope, and love of Christ can be a beacon shining in the darkness that guides others safely to shore. So, in the pages that follow, I hope to show us how the world around us still needs and craves these in their lives, even if they don’t know that they need them. Hence, they desperately search in all the wrong places to fill this unfulfilled need. As Christians, we have what they seek. Let’s share our confidence with them and change our communities for the better. 1 Corinthians 13:13 “Three things will last forever–faith, hope, and love–and the greatest of these is love.” – This verse will be our roadmap. I pray this book will help you reach out to people around you with faith, hope, and love:

In each section, we will look at examples from the Old Testament’s perspective, the New Testament, to understand the basics.
Next, we will look at failures or difficulties and successes.
Then we will look at modern-day examples.
We will read a summary of faith, hope, and love.

I hope you gain an understanding of why these elements are so crucial to our faith.

Finding Faith, Hope, and Love in a Broken World

In the Beginning

First, let’s look at how we got here. It took humanity a few chapters of one book of the Bible to destroy God’s handiwork. In contrast, it took another sixty-five books to show us how to repent of our sins. Let’s start at the beginning of the story to help us understand the significance of I Corinthians 13:13. “In the Beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” Genesis 1:1. God created a perfect world in the beginning. The Bible goes on to tell us how God formed everything out of nothing. Before creation, nothing existent other than the heavenly realms. The light became the first item to appear in His masterpiece. After He established the earth and populated it with plants and animals, He decided that humans were needed to complete the process.

God walked among His creation daily: no sin, no diseases or death, and no hatred between Creator and creation. Click To Tweet

The final act was the creation of the first humans, Adam and Eve. God made us in His image. He created us to enjoy His love and for us to delight in Him. The perfection continued as the Garden of Eden took shape, a paradise for the people of God. He walked among His creation daily: no sin, no diseases or death, and no hatred between Creator and creation. Shame did not exist within the garden. Also, I believe we get an early glimpse of our heavenly home in the description of the Garden of Eden from Genesis.

Sin in the Garden

But soon, the tempter entered the tranquil scene and changed everything. Sin shattered God’s perfection. In Genesis chapter three, we find Satan, a fallen angel, making his home among the beauty of the garden. And, his influence caused Adam and Eve to sacrifice the grandeur of the garden for a lie. Satan promised them complete knowledge of good and evil in his offer of the forbidden fruit from the tree of life. But, instead of being satisfied with living in a world created by God, they strived to become gods themselves.

Even today, the devil’s lies still pretend to offer us the opportunity to see and understand everything hidden. Just like Adam and Eve, we believe him. At that moment, as they took the first bite, life changed forever. Their eyes became open to see the evil of sin in creation. Once they knew sin, they could no longer remain in the perfect world God had created for them. Finally, God banished Adam and Eve from the garden and sealed the entryway from their return.

The Fall

The fall of man from the garden removed us from the daily walks with God. But, it did more damage than just separating us from our Creator. Namely, death and disease came into the world. Also, shame entered the scene as Adam and Eve discovered their nakedness and hid from God. Sin caused us to toil hard to scrape out a living.

Humans destroyed the natural environment to build houses, make fires, and eat. Waste and abuse of God’s creation began. The shame of our sins made us try to hide our true selves from God and each other. We started to think that no one… Click To Tweet

Furthermore, things like the weather conditions beyond our control now affected the fields that needed tilling. Backs bent under oppression became commonplace. Sin broke every relationship God created. Soon, the rapport between husband and wives suffered because of this original sin. Humans destroyed the natural environment to build houses, make fires, and eat. Waste and abuse of God’s creation began. The shame of our sins made us try to hide our true selves from God and each other. We started to think that no one would ever love the real us.

Example

The first humans were born without sin. No other generation can make that claim. Now, we are born with sin in their DNA. For example, no one has to teach a toddler to sin; they are born with the ability. My eldest granddaughter understands that telling a lie will fool me long enough to get what she wants. I remember once such a situation. “Bebe, Mommy said I could play on the computer today if I wanted to, so can I?” my granddaughter asked.

“Really? Okay. Here is the laptop for you to use. You can play until your mom gets home.”

My granddaughter smiles big and bats her beautiful eyes at me before heading off to her room. That should’ve been my first clue, but instead, it was not until my daughter arrives home that I realize she deceived me as she lied to my face.

As her mom asks her about the lie, I see shame spread across her little face. She immediately tries to cover up the situation with more lies. Her parents teach her right from wrong, but sin is the first option to make sure she gets things her way. And my grandchildren are not unique in their propensity to sin.

More of the Same

Then, as we read further into Genesis, life did not improve for our ancestors. In chapter four of Genesis, we discover the story of Cain and Abel, children of Adam and Eve. The sin of envy caused Cain to murder his brother Abel. But, Cain worsened the situation further when God asked him about his brother. Cain responded in Genesis 4:9, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” even though he knew what happened. God banished Cain from his home and told him, “When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” Genesis 4:12. Sin continued to destroy creation. Also, I wonder if Adam and Eve ever longed for days back in the garden. Did the weight of their decision to eat the fruit weigh on them daily? Did they blame each other for their losses?

Next, as we dig deeper into Genesis, we see that wickedness continued to spread. Chapter six introduces us to Noah and his family. Sin ran rampant, and the Lord decided He needed to start His plans over again. In Genesis 6: 11, the writer tells us, “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.” Then, God destroyed the world with a great flood. He saved Noah and his family so life could begin again. Also, God promised to never destroy the earth again with floods. But, as Noah settled into the dried-out land, sin remained.

Faith, Hope, and Love

So where can we find Faith, Hope and Love in our world today and do they really make a difference for us? The rest of this book seeks to answer these questions. 1 Corinthians 13:13 – “Three things will last forever–faith, hope, and love–and the greatest of these is love.” You can pre-order a copy of the book at https://www.wellmadepublishing.com