Ephesians
2:11-12 “Therefore remember that you, once
Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the
Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—that at that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”
Hope is
defined in the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary as a
desire of some good, accompanied with at least a slight expectation of
obtaining it, or a belief that it is obtainable. Hope differs from wish and
desire in this, that it implies some expectation of obtaining the good desired,
or the possibility of possessing it. Hope therefore always gives pleasure or
joy; whereas wish and desire may produce or be accompanied with pain and
anxiety. Confidence in a future event; the highest degree of well founded
expectation of good; as a hope founded on God's gracious promises; a scriptural
sense. A well founded scriptural hope, is the source of ineffable happiness. The
Christian indulges a hope, that his sins are pardoned.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know
the plans I
have for you,” declares the Lord,
“plans to prosper you
and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
It
is a terrible thing to live without hope. Hopeless is defined by Webster’s as
being destitute of hope; having no expectation of that which is desirable;
despairing. Hopelessness gives no ground of hope or expectation of good;
promising nothing desirable. I’ve read and seen that fallen natural mankind’s
hopelessness settles about themselves. The hopeless God-rejecting world system
seeks to rid God, God’s holy Word of the Bible, and public expression of faith
causes the gloom to grow deeper in darkness, because they flee this depressing world
of hopelessness to the world of escapism as a distraction from the root problem
and the true solution. It’s just as King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes
1:14
“I
have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are
meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” The pursuit of happiness can lead us down distracting false rabbit trails
of pleasure, partying, possession, power, position, prestige, porn, pomp, in
people, places and things for self-satisfaction and contentment, but it is a
bottomless pit and hopeless ... chasing
after the wind.
Hebrews 10:23, 11:1 “Let us hold unswervingly to the
hope we
profess, for
He who promised is faithful. Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and
assurance about what we do not see."
To
the Christian, Hope is real in blessed assurance, by rock-solid faith, standing
on the promises of God, based upon the objective standard of the Word of God in
His Plan of Salvation though the gospel truth. Through Jesus Christ, we have
been born again unto a “living” hope, the undoubting hope that we shall live with
Him forever in Heaven. It is a sure hope that we have been made eternal sons
and daughters of God. We have been made eternal beings stating now, because our
sins have been forgiven, our relation with God has been reconciled, our spirit
has been regenerated, the Holy spirit indwells our heart and we are citizens of
the kingdom of Heaven. We have a hope that is never-ending. The only real hope
in this world is the hope of His calling, and His calling is one that has
called us to union with Jesus Christ. If our hope is built on anything other
than Christ – His blood and His righteousness – then your hope is a vain
illusion and one day it will perish with us in eternal hopelessness. But to
those who have put their truth in God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), they have
a glorious hope; an everlasting and never-ending hope because the Lord is our hope and our happiness. It’s only called hope because
it has not come to pass … yet. The eternal perspective is that living hope.
1 Corinthians 13:13
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.”
In
Christ, Brian
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