here's the deal.
i need hope.
i have hope.
i want to be hope.
i believe in hope.
Jesus is hope.
i want you to be hope.
i want you to have hope.
i use the word hope a lot, what the heck does it mean?
i need hope because a lot of crap is raining down in my world. songs like "praise you in this storm" and "calmer of the storm" resonate deeply with me. i need hope for my family, for jobs, for friends, for growth, for the church. i need hope when i think of the kids in kibera. i need hope when i see refugees struggling with life in fort wayne. i need hope when i want the church to be less messy. i need hope that my life will honor him.
i have hope that Jesus is in control. i have hope that He is at work. i have hope that He is the head of the church. i have hope that he will make a way. i have hope that he knows the names of every kid in kibera, every one of the 6000 that will be orphaned today by AIDS, everyone of the 12,000 kids that will die today of hunger. i have hope that he says whatever we do for the least, we do for him. i have hope that my life will bring honor and glory to him.
i want to be hope to my co-workers, my friends, my church, my refugee friends, those in see and influence. i want to be hope in a world of hunger, disease, famine, disaster, terrorism, political smear, and sin.
Jesus is hope.
i hope someday i live in africa. i hope i someday know the word from beginning to end. i hope Jesus comes soon. i hope my unbelieving friends see Jesus in me and come to know him too.
i hope, that when i hope, it's in him. not in man. not in my skills. not in what this world offers.
the other day when i was trying to figure out what Godly hope looks like, i immediately thought of hebrews 11. this passage speaks about some of the great men and women of God, who did not consider this world their home but hoped or "looked forward" and "desired" as the passage says to a heavenly home. to me, that is hope. it's hope for what counts. it puts earthly hopes in perspective.
hurricane ike has come and so many people are talking about the fact they "lost everything they worked for." i've heard this phrase over and over on the news this week and it's a tragedy for those people. it's more of a tragedy if their hope truly is in earthy things the work of their hands.
a storm has damaged their hope....
again, my life feels a bit stormy at the moment.
are these storms taking away my hope?
sometimes, yes. but i beg him to restore my hope, and put my hope in Jesus alone.
i've been spending time this morning reading scriptures about hope, which i'll share later. but i pulled out my zondervan Bible dictionary in the midst to look up the word HOPE:
Hope, a gift of the Holy Spirit which abides, an essential characteristic of the Christian. Not mere expectation and desire, as in Greek literature, but includes trust, confidence, refuge in God, the God of hope.
WOW.
It goes on to say:
Christ in you is the hope of glory (Col 1:27). Christ Jesus is our hope (1 Tim 1:1 RSV).
It depends on the resurrection of Christ (1 Cor 15:19).
i say the phrase "i hope" a lot, and often say it about silly things like what's for lunch. but real hope depends on the resurrection of Christ.
matthew asked us in small group a few weeks ago if we are encouraging one another to keep hoping, no matter what season we are in. hope had already become a theme in my mind going back to the book i told you about, so i was excited that we were talking about hope. we had an awesome discussion that night, talking a lot about the question of what it would like if we really truly lived in hope.
i want to know the answer to that, i mean really know because i am living it.
i want to live in hope every day.
i want you to live in hope and know Jesus as your full and only hope.
keep hoping my friends!
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