Romans 8:24( PAR); “We are saved by hope”, and (Romans 12:12) “we rejoice in hope” because “if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it” (8:25). Now that’s a paraphrase of three profound verses out of Paul’s letter to the Romans. As with our devotional yesterday, they draw on faith, hope, and patience. Our text today says “that eager anticipation strengthens us to stay faithful to God and to stay on the path of what is right” (Dallas Willard – “Renovation of the Heart”). When you think about hope, at the time Paul writes here, it was not well regarded by the Greco-Roman world. Hope was considered a “desperation” measure. Jesus however changed the idea of hope into a primary virtue, that hope and faith are closely related, in fact, Hebrews 11:1 says; “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” I don’t know about you, but for me, when people speak of hope, it seems so intangible. Both Christians and people who do not believe, use the word “hope” so flippantly and casually, ranging from dreams about their future to their Christmas wish-list. Biblical hope however is not intangible or abstract. Biblical hope expresses future certainty. In Scripture, hope is placed in things that are guaranteed but simply have not happened yet. In other words, it is the reality that is to come. For the Christian, there is no reason whatsoever to water down hope, in fact, for us, “to live without hope is to cease to live” (Dostoesvsky). Hope and faith are, to put it simply, embracing the invisible. Think of faith here. Would you agree that the life of faith can be pretty excruciating at points? Why? Well, because both hope and faith are a continual process of breaking us from what we see, in fact, to live in hope and faith, means that we have to almost redefine what we call reality. In other words, when God says one thing and visible evidence says another, we are called to choose which reality we will believe. You may be facing an impossible circumstance right now. Perhaps this situation has you barely hanging on to hope. If that is you, I believe that this will change your perspective: Hebrews 10:23 says; “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” God makes one thing perfectly clear throughout Scripture, if he has promised something, you can rest assured that it is a greater reality than any other evidence you face or may see. When God has spoken, it is true and let nothing persuade you otherwise. Martin Luther had this to say about what we’re discussing today; “Faith is a living and unshakeable confidence, a belief in the grace of God so assured that a man would die a thousand deaths for its sake.”Gods hope is a hope that whispers and is a hope that will not fade.I thought I would share this clip with you to perhaps use in your family Bible Study, or in your cell groups as it helps us understand what faith is. Enjoy it! https://youtube/watch?v=_TwxRkQWNXE
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 04:21:04 +0000
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