Thought for Today
Psalm 33:18 Truly the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, . . . 22 Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.
Proverbs 23:18 Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off. 19 Hear, my child, and be wise, and direct your mind in the way.
Matthew 12:20 He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick until he brings justice to victory. 21 And in his name the Gentiles will hope."
Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.
Yesterday I wrote about faith, so today I’m thinking about hope, because “1 Corinthians 13:13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” It remains to be seen whether or not I’m thinking about love tomorrow. Today, I’ll “Matthew 6:34 Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day.” (RSV)
Hope is a very common word in church and in the Bible. At times, hope is a common word in secular discourse, at other times it appears much less frequently. In secular discourse, hope means: “as an intransitive verb: to cherish a desire with anticipation. As a transitive verb: to desire with expectation of obtainment or fulfillment. As a noun: desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment.” (www.merriam-webster.com)
My Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms defines Christian hope as “The Christian anticipation of the future as the fulfillment of God’s purposes based on God’s covenant faithfulness and the resurrection of Jesus Christ as known by the work of the Holy Spirit in the church.”
To some extent, hope is the most basic element of our faith. Even before the Incarnation, the covenant people of our Creator God knew that hope, “those who hope in his steadfast love.” They knew God’s promises to Noah, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The promise of God’s love; the promise of God’s presence among them; the promise of the future.
As Christians, we perceive that same hope as being fulfilled in Jesus, the Christ. Jesus was/is the promised kinsman Redeemer. The Gospel of John captures our hope, our understanding and our perception of God’s love in vss. 3:16-17.
As Christians, we pray in response to our hope, especially in those words from the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Our faith ensures we have the hope of God’s promise. Our faith guarantees our hope for the future, especially for the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise, “John 14:2 In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.”
For us, that promised place especially prepared for each of us individually is the cherished, anticipated desire, is the thing desired with expectation of obtainment or fulfillment. It is what is hoped for with full expectation of fulfillment, fully believed to be our reward in eternity.
The rules encompassing our Christian faith and hope are simple. Jesus told us that the greatest commandments are that we love God and that we love each other as much as we love ourselves. In addition to that promised future hope, those rules, if carefully, deliberately followed would also produce a wonderful world right here, right now. They would offer us that for which we pray, God’s will done on earth as it is in heaven.
As each of us goes about our daily life, diligent attention to those rules is our individual contribution to making this a better world. We’re not being asked to suffer, Christ has already done that for us. We’re not being asked to do anything arduous. We’re only being asked to love God and to love each other. How hard can that really be? Let’s find out! Let’s “Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.”
Stay safe, rejoice in hope, trust God,
Pastor Ray