Romans - Part 4: SPIRITSample

Hope

Hope… is a small word with powerful strength and meaning. And yet, as it is often used today, it has a paper-thin meaning. For example, “ I hope the movie is good,” “ I hope you like it,” or, “ I hope this all works out.” This “hope so,” “perchance,” and “ maybe, if it happens” kind of hope is based on whimsy, on fleeting feelings. Paul, however, is speaking of a better kind of hope, one that is deeply rooted and grounded, one that we can be confident in and in which we have full assurance and trust. This hope, our hope, is in and of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the assurance, the Rock on which the foundation of our faith and hope stands.

Trust in the LORD forever, For in God the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock. Isaiah 26:4.

There is an expectancy, a longing, to hope, whether based on whimsy or grounded in truth. In either case, the outcome is not yet realized. Paul asks, “Who hopes for what he already has?”

As believers in Christ, we eagerly await the completion of our redemption. We have the assurance that the promise of our salvation has been sealed in us by the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. And so, we wait in confidence, in knowledge, and in truth.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance that is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3-5

-Laurie Harry