Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Hope IS...

“This I recall to mind, therefore I have Hope:”
There is Hope and then there is hope. Hope is like faith; only as worthy as the object hoped for, the Object which is believed in.
Here’s an example which I Hope makes sense:
My Hope is that God has accepted me, given me a new life in Christ.
My Faith is exactly the same.
But
If your Hope is that I am wrong about Jesus Christ,
If your faith, your entire life, is based on the belief that Christians are wrong
(The born again Christians who keep mentioning Sin and the need for Salvation,
NOT the ones with a beer tent at the church picnic.)
If your faith is based on the belief that Christians are wrong, then we are at a Hope impasse.
The Object of my Hope, my Faith, is Jesus Christ.

Here are a few unworthy hopes:
“I hope I have enough money to get drunk tonight.”
“I hope to marry a rich man (or woman) who will take me away from this misery.”
“I hope, truly Hope, that I am good enough to make it into Heaven when I die.”
You’re not. Neither am I. But my faith isn’t based on my goodness, but on Christ’s Goodness, His love
For even such a sinner as I am.
“It is of the Lord’s Mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning.”
I hope for Heaven, but God Blesses me daily until I get there. Heaven is where God is, so I've been experiencing little bits of Heaven for nearly 30 years.
This world is indeed in terrible shape-man in his sin pollutes his environment, as much as he pollutes his life. But the answer, the Hope for the repair and reclamation of the planet is in God’s cleaning it, not man.
In Psalm 51 David begs: “Create in me a clean heart, O God” -we ask for that also, but we can also petition: “Create for me a clean world, O God”.
That is my Hope, and I believe it will happen because God, in His Word, promises to accomplish that very thing.
What is impossible for man is possible for God.
“Great is Thy Faithfulness.”
Amen.

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