Faith, Hope, & Love

My faith is in the God of grace
And in His pow'r to save me;
He sent His Son to take my place
And His own Spirit gave me.
I cannot see it, but I know
His wondrous grace hath made it so;
In Him I am established.

My hope is in God's faithful Word;
He said He would remake me
In His own likeness - sweet accord!
When death shall overtake me.
He hath not done it yet, but will;
Till then I can be certain still:
His Word may ne'er be broken.

The love I bear unto my Head
I have, for He first loved me,
And when I was in trespass dead,
He quicked my heart and moved me.
Though yet I love Him and adore,
I pray for grace to love Him more -
How else should I repay Him?

My faith, my hope, and all my love
I give to God, their sender,
But when I am at rest above,
Two shall repay their lender:
For unto sight shall faith be turned,
And hope shall see for what it yearned,
But love shall be for ever!

—2/14/2011. On 1 Cor 13:13. To “Mit Freuden Zart.”

A/N 11/25/25: Look at baby me. Valentine's Day. I must have thought I was so slick for that. I know I thought I was slick for having the thought that prompted this hymn. I much later reread the note on 1 Cor 13:13 in my MacArthur Study Bible and found out it was not original to me. The beginning of a truly humbling awareness that my memory is unreliable—I so desperately want to be a mind in command of itself—but also that I learn by assimilation. If I have my timeline correct, this is also the beginning of what remains a lifelong love affair with German hymn tunes and their weird, weird meters.