The HopeПримерок

Our Hope Have you ever discovered money in your jacket or pants pocket you forgot about? I love when this happens! It’s like receiving an unexpected bonus. The funny part is, I had the money the whole time but just forgot about it. This happens often with our abundant riches in Christ. We always have them, but we often forget about them or fail to use them. And when we have the blessings of God but don’t apply them to our lives, we’re missing out on the life God intended for us.  God can help you fully know His love. And when you know you have His love, you can truly grasp His grace, His forgiveness, His mercy, His friendship, His peace, His provision, and His very presence at work in you and all around you. Understanding that God loves you completely and immensely fills you with unlimited love and unlimited hope.  There’s one problem with hope. It doesn’t come naturally. It’s natural for us to cross our fingers and hope for the best. It’s harder to expect confidently in God. But here’s the deal: to have hope, we must know God. Why? Because God is our hope! So, for us to live a life of hope, we must know the object of our hope.  No doubt, the concept of hope can sometimes be confusing. One reason is because there are two uses of the word “hope.” There is a worldly hope we use in everyday life—where we hope we get the job or hope our loved ones travel home safely. With this type of hope, we’re uncertain of the outcome and cross our fingers as we hope for the best.  This everyday, worldly hope is quite different from the biblical hope the Scriptures refer to. The hope we have in Christ is not a desire or wishful thinking. The Bible’s use of hope conveys an entirely different meaning. Biblical hope is “confident expectation.”  If you aren’t walking in peace and joy, it’s time to reset your thinking! God doesn’t need you to have a mountain of hope. He just needs a seed to grow it into something to sustain you in the good times and in the devastating times. Your battle may seem to have no victory in sight, but all hope is not lost! Today, be encouraged to make the God of hope, your hope. Through Christ, you can have a confident expectation that far exceeds any worldly hope.