Someone said: "Hope is what gets us out of bed in the mornings."
In a general sense this is true, but for the Christian hope is more than a vague longing that "today will be better than the bad day I had yesterday."
Hope in a Biblical sense is a powerful force that has enabled believers through the ages to overcome in the worst of circumstances. This hope is not something that we produce in ourselves by the "power of positive thinking" but it is a powerful certainty that is based on the gracious nature and awesome power of God.
On Sunday night we reflected on excerpts from a Max Lucado book on the Lord's Prayer. He points out that when we think of God being in Heaven, we are saying that He is the Creator, Sustainer and mighty God of all the universe. "How vital that we pray, armed with the knowledge that God is in heaven. Pray with any lesser conviction and your prayers are timid, shallow and hollow."
Biblical Hope works in the same way: It's not based on us or our circumstances but on the glorious certainty that we are loved by God and that pain will not have the final say!
Hope is about the extent to which we let the Spirit reign in our hearts. When we experience being "in the Vine," when we are experiencing the prompting and guidance of the Spirit, when we are living with our hearts open to Him, then hope is an awesome force that does NOT disappoint us.
When the drudgery of work turns into the struggle of labour and we cross the dry, featureless desert of thirsty endurance, then hope is the powerful force that sustains us.
And here's why: There was a Friday where all the pain of humanity was thrown onto the shoulders of Christ, but even as He gave up His Spirit and it looked like it was over, there was a whisper in the wind: "It's Friday, but Sunday's coming!"
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
