The Faithful Fox Podcast
'The Faithful Fox' delivers spiritual wisdom with a side of unfiltered humor as the Jooseman tackles faith, life, and everything in between – because being holy doesn't mean you can't be hilarious
The Faithful Fox Podcast
Episode 4: The Greatest of These is Love
What makes faith, hope, and love so powerful? Are they just nice religious concepts, or something more transformative? In this episode, we break down the Apostle Paul's famous "ultimate trio" from 1 Corinthians 13:13 and discover why they're genuine game-changers when properly understood.
Faith isn't about floating around in robes - it's intensely practical. It's the trust that allows you to sit in a chair without inspecting it first or order food from a new restaurant believing it won't send you to the ER. Spiritual faith works similarly but addresses our deeper questions about meaning and purpose. Hope isn't naive optimism but the resilient belief that setbacks aren't the end of your story. And love? Not the Hollywood version that comes and goes with feelings, but the kind that sees people at their worst and chooses to stay anyway.
The magic happens when these three work together. Faith without hope becomes mere stubbornness with a Bible verse attached. Hope without love is just wishful thinking. Love without faith lacks foundation. But when all three operate in harmony? You can face anything, dream about everything, and love through everything. It's like building IKEA furniture - faith believes the instructions make sense, hope thinks you'll finish before midnight, and love prevents you from throwing the Allen wrench at your partner when they suggest you're doing it wrong.
Why does Paul crown love as the greatest? Because while faith and hope are forward-looking and temporary, love operates right now, in this moment, with whoever is in front of you. When faith and hope are no longer needed because we can see clearly, love will still remain. Love is both the means and the end - it's what makes everything else worthwhile.
Ready to experience how these three principles can transform your everyday life? Listen now, and discover why faith, hope, and love remain the ultimate trio for navigating our complex world.
Yo, what's good? Faithful foxes, your boy, justin. Here and today, we're talking about the ultimate trio. And no, I'm not talking about Beyonce, jay-z and their accountant. I'm talking about something way more fire than that. We're diving into what the Apostle Paul called the Big Three Faith, hope and love. And, spoiler alert, one of them is the clear MVP. But here's the thing these aren't just fancy church words that look good on coffee mugs. These three are straight up life changers, game changers and mood changers. Basically, they'll change everything if you let them. So buckle up, because we're about to get real about why these three things are absolutely legendary.
Speaker 2:Let's kick it off. Are sitting. Yeah, your words give me grace and you're here in this place. I've been blind by your holy light. Give me blessings from above when I broadcast. Welcome to the Faithful Fox podcast.
Speaker 1:Whew, that never gets old, does it? All? Right, faithful foxes, we are back and we are talking about 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 13. Today, Now, paul drops this absolute banger and now these three remain Faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. Now, when I first read this I was like, okay, cool, paul, thanks for the ranking system. But the older I get, the more I realized this dude wasn't just throwing out random spiritual rankings. He was giving us the blueprint for a life that actually works.
Speaker 1:So let's break it down with our first segment, fox Facts. I summon the very facts that I am a man. So first up, we got faith. Now faith gets a bad rap sometimes because people think it means you got to be all mystical and float around in robes or something. But real talk, faith is way more practical than that. Faith is like when you sit down in a chair without inspecting the structural integrity first. You just sit. That's faith, baby. You're trusting that chair to do its job.
Speaker 1:Faith is ordering food from a new restaurant and believing it won't send you to the ER. Faith is hitting send on that important email and trusting your phone didn't autocorrect meeting to meatball Delicious. But here's where it gets real. Spiritual faith is just like that, but bigger. It's trusting that there's someone bigger than us who's got this whole thing figured out, even when we definitely don't. Then we got hope. Oh man, hope is like faith's optimistic cousin who always shows up to the family reunion with just good vibes. Hope is what makes you check your bank account after a shopping spree, thinking maybe it's not that bad. Hope is why we keep dating apps on our phones. Hope is believing that one day, just maybe, you'll find a parking spot at Target on a Saturday. But real hope, biblical hope, that's the kind that says things might be rough right now, but this isn't the end of the story. That's the hope that keeps you going when life hits different.
Speaker 1:And then there's love, capital L love. Not just I love pizza love Though pizza love is valid, just going to put that out there but the kind of love that changes everything. Love is what makes you give someone the last slice, even when you're still hungry. Love is staying up late to help a friend through their drama, even though you got work in the morning. Love is choosing to see the best in people, even when they're showing you their worst. But check this out. It gets wilder and we'll talk about in our next segment called the Trinity of Awesome. Yes, that's awesome. Yes, that's awesome. See, here's what Paul understood that we sometimes miss.
Speaker 1:These three don't work solo, they're like a boy band, but actually good, they're meant to work together. It's like this Imagine you're trying to build IKEA furniture. Faith is believing the instructions actually make sense. Hope is thinking you'll finish before midnight. Love is not throwing the Allen wrench at your partner when they suggest you might be doing it wrong. Without all three, you're just going to end up with a very expensive pile of wood and some relationship issues. But for real, though, when these three team up in your life, it's incredible.
Speaker 1:Faith gives you the foundation to stand on, hope gives you something to look forward to, and love gives you a reason to keep going. Think about it. What good is faith without hope? That's just stubbornness with a Bible verse attached. What good is hope without love? That's just wishful thinking. What good is love without faith? That's just feelings that change with the weather. But when you got all three working together, man, that's when life gets interesting. That's when you can face anything, dream about everything and love through everything. Okay, faithful foxes, it's time to visit the hypothetical house. So let's flip this and see what happens when one of those goes missing.
Speaker 1:So first scenario life without faith. Picture this you wake up every morning and the first thought is I wonder what's going to go wrong today? You don't trust anyone. You don't trust yourself. You definitely don't trust that your car is going to start today. You don't trust anyone. You don't trust yourself. You definitely don't trust that your car is going to start. You're basically living like every day is a final exam you did not study for. You'd be that person who reads all the Yelp reviews before ordering a sandwich, then still expects it to be terrible. That's exhausting y'all.
Speaker 1:Now imagine life without hope. That's like being stuck in a Netflix series that never gets renewed. You know how it starts, but you got no idea where it's going and, honestly, you're not even sure you care anymore. Without hope, every setback feels permanent, every no feels final. Every closed door looks like a wall. That is no way to live, fam. But life without love, man, that might be the worst one. That's like having the fanciest house on the block but no one to share it with. You got everything you thought you wanted, but it all feels empty. Without love, success feels hollow, achievements feel meaningless and relationships feel like transactions. You're basically living life in airplane mode Everything looks the same, but nothing really connects.
Speaker 1:Which brings us to why Paul said what he said about love being the greatest, which we'll talk about in our next segment called Love Takes the Crown, I love you. Called Love Takes the Crown, I love you. So why does love get the top spot? Why does Paul say but the greatest of these is love? Well, here's the thing Faith and hope are incredible, but they're both forward-looking.
Speaker 1:Faith is about trusting in what we can't see yet. Hope is about believing in what's coming, but love Love is right here, right now, in this moment. Love is what makes faith worth having. What good is believing in God if you don't love God or love what God loves? Love is what makes hope worth holding onto forward to tomorrow.
Speaker 1:If you can't love people today. It's like this. Faith and hope are the foundation and the roof, but love is the whole house. Love is where life actually happens when someone's going through their worst day. They don't need you to have perfect faith or endless hope, though those do help. What they need is for you to love them right where they are. What they need is for you to love them, right where they are. Love shows up, love stays, love doesn't wait for things to get better. And here's the kicker Love is eternal. Paul says that these three remain, but love, love outlasts everything else. When we don't need faith anymore, because we can see clearly, when we don't need hope anymore because we're home, love will still be there. Love is the point, love is the goal, love is what makes everything else worth it.
Speaker 1:As we wrap up today, I want you to think about something. In a world that feels like it's constantly trying to tear us apart, divide us, make us choose sides, we've got these three things that can hold us together Faith that reminds us we're not alone. Hope that reminds us this isn't the end of the story. And love, love that reminds us why any of this matters at all. So, as I play this out today, I just want you to sit with that for a minute. Let these words wash over you. Let love real love, god's love fill up all the spaces in your heart that maybe feel a little empty. You know, when Paul wrote about faith, hope and love, he wasn't just giving us a nice list to put on a greeting card. He was giving us the secret to a life that matters, a life that lasts, a life that leaves the world a little brighter than we found it.
Speaker 1:And love, oh love. Not the Hollywood version that comes and goes with feelings, not the social media version that depends on likes and comments, but the kind of love that sees you at your absolute worst and chooses to stay anyway. That's the love God has for you right now, right where you're sitting, right in the middle of whatever you're walking through, whether you feel like you deserve it or not, whether you think you've got it all figured out or you are completely lost. You are loved with a love that will never give up on you. Never walk away, never say that's enough. Faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love. Go be loved, faithful foxes, and go be love. Peace out y'all.
