Contributor: Annie
Scriptures: Colossians 1:27 Ephesians 1:18 Romans 5:2 Isaiah 42:9 Revelation 21:4
When we first moved to the Nelson area, it used to make people smile when we said we lived in Hope. We did, it was the name of the suburb where our house was. But it means so much more, not only for followers of Christ, but for everyone.
Each day people hope that their lives will be calm and enjoyable, yet, most days, something will happen that disappoints or troubles them. But still, they wake up the next morning hoping again. There is a saying “hope springs eternal”, which rings so true, people keep on hoping for better times, less turmoil, more money, health and that they will live through the day. I wonder what that hope is built on for those who don’t have a relationship with God through Christ?
It seems strange that even atheists will experience hope. Those who deny that there is any God, that we cease to exist when our body stops breathing, will still hope for – what? Hope is an emotion that really can’t be defined by cause and effect. Pain, happiness, weariness, exultation, grief all have, in our physical existence, an external cause that has an effect on our brain and our emotions. But what causes hope? What external force causes man to live in hope? Rationally, I don’t know, maybe previous personal experiences or seeing what has happened to others in the same situation.
Often people claim that they are just optimistic folk who make the best of things. But if this life really is it, all there is, why bother? If all we do is live here, then die and become a mulch for the garden, what is there to hope for?
Despite what rationalists, atheists and all the other “ists” may claim, there is an indefinable part of humankind that is aware of hope. There is a spiritual part to our being that we can’t explain or see or touch, but is more real than any other part of us. Humanity has always intrinsically been aware of the being that they are that is beyond their body, beyond the physical.
Jesus Christ came to offer the substantiveness of HOPE to all of humanity. He brought the truth, the reality that our physical life is not the eternal Life we can all have, if we recognise this Hope and run to Him. He brought the Hope of the Glory of God to all who run home to Him. Christ’s Life in us is the Hope of Glory, the Hope of everlasting Joy, Peace and, yes, Excitement. Ours is not a hope for things to just be a bit better, for a few less frustrations and a not so many troubles.
The Hope of Glory bought and paid for at Calvary is an eternity where each day is full of Joy, full of new creations, new delights, all things made new. The former things, the things of this troubled world, will all be gone, never to be seen or thought of again.
Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for sending Jesus, Your One and Only Son so that we can be filled each day with Your Holy Spirit, overflowing with the Hope of Glory. Christ in us is the Hope of Glory. Amen