The apostle Paul uses a seamless theme throughout his discourses. Hope, he describes, is not an abstract, groundless concept based in fanciful dreams and wishes. It has grit. It has substance. It is rooted in basic Christian tenets beginning with the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord, God the Son. It is based further that Jesus has creative power and created the worlds and all their inhabitants via the spoken word.
It is based on the fact that Christ came as a baby and a lived a sinless life demonstrating our way of overcoming sin. By conquering our innate tendencies, it demonstrates the power of God in our lives. It is rooted in the fact that Christ died and rose again.
Paul culminates this concept of hope in Titus 2:13 as he further qualifies it as the blessed hope. This reference pertains to the soon return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Hope is listed as one of the three anchors in 1 Corinthians 13:13 along with faith and charity. Are we looking for a new home and to be reunited with our loved ones?
This theme of hope was proclaimed even in the Old Testament by the patriarchs and prophets of that period. The psalmist admonished us in Psalm 42:8. “Why are you cast down, oh my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him, Who is the health of my countenance, and my God”. Do our lives exemplify a daily connection with Christ as we experience the trials of each day?
Hope is heralded in the 1861 patriotic hymn by Julia Ward Howe “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord”. How can we allow each day to resonate with this theme? How can our lives better reflect that we look expectantly for that day? Deep down we possess the knowledge of the coming of Christ. As we have entered this autumn season and look towards the weekend, pray that God will not only give you blessings for today, but ask Him also to fill your life with expectancy.
In the midst of a world falling apart there is still hope, there is still God. There is hope in God.
