Faith, Hope and Charity

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. 1 Corinthians 13:13

I enjoy watching Glenn Beck. It is like getting a refresher on what I learned in high school. I know a lot of people say they never learned most of what he goes over. But I did. My mom sacrificed and sent me to a very conservative baptist high school. One of the things they had us do a lot of, was memorize scripture. Being a fundamental baptist school, the bible of choice was the King James version. So every time Glenn asserts his view that what our country needs is faith, hope, and charity, the first words out of my mouth are "these three; but the greatest of these is charity".
I have a great love for the founding fathers. I also love the sermons of George Whitefield and Johnathon Edwards. I believe that if we want to see an example of a society based on Christian ideals we need look no further than that generation. I think it is good and right to look at these men and women as the template of good and free America. But we must be careful. These were just men. They, themselves, would likely discourage us from putting our hope in them. Because we must look to their source.
The greatest of these is love. That is how it is translated today. Remember, that God is love. That is why even as we look to restore these three attributes, we must turn to God. Who do we put our faith in? The Lord. Where does our hope lie? The Lord. And who must we love with all that we are? The Lord. We should study our history and learn from it. What I feel is more important, however, is to study the Word of the Lord. How can we ever hope to gain our nation once more if we do not understand the principles that will allow us to build a firm foundation. Just reading the Word is not enough. We must use it to develop right doctrines or principles to live by. It must be internalized and meditated on to change us. Above all else, we must first be changed by the living Word, by placing our trust in Him. This must be personal or it will never be national.