And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Cor 13:13 (NIV)
Three Things – Part 2 – Hope
Like we spoke of faith yesterday, hope has an intrinsically eternal nature to it.
Hope is the sense of ‘more’ that each and every human has. It’s the very part of God’s nature that never gives up on us, and the expectation in this life and the next that there is still more good to come.
The implication of this chapter, in 1st Corinthians, is that hope has eternal and divine qualities. When you have hope, you engage in a sacred and immutable network of connection to everything else, in which everything connects to God.
That’s why “Hope anchors the soul” (Heb 16:9).
It connects what is not measurable to what is. It’s the collision of eternal and the temporal. It’s where heaven and earth meet.
Proverbs 13 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” And now you can see why. The disconnect from the eternal, from who God really is, makes us lifeless and ill.
Romans 15 indicates that “the God of hope” fills us with joy and peace. Who wants more joy and peace?
Jeremiah prophesies that there is a “future and a hope” for the generations. Plans that GOD has, which is often interpreted as our own plans in this verse. But God’s ways are higher. His existence in and through and above time means that the future He sees, extends longer than the one we can.
The Psalmist says in Chapter 71, “You Lord, are my hope…” Again this points to WHO God is and the very fabric of His nature.
Does hope mean we no longer struggle? I think the existence of hope indicates that there will be strife, there will be pain and there will be a reason to endure. I can’t think of one person I know or have known that hasn’t felt pain or suffering in any degree.
Paul writes in Romans 8 “For if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience…”
Hope, therefore, is not defined by or limited to your health, bank account, level of fame or intelligence. However, it can meet you at and speak to your eternal future, whatever you’re facing in this very moment.
Hope makes possible what is otherwise unseen…
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