H~O~P~E

Fifty-2 Sunday’s ~ Listening for God

        Sunday’s sermon was about hope. Hope is both universal and uniquely human and does not have to be taught or learned. We start to hope as soon as we can desire something with the expectation of obtaining it. As the minister pointed out, everyone “hopes”; “hope we get the job”, “hope we get married”, “hope a loved one gets well” etc.

        Hope is an essential element of faith; a “precursor” of sorts. This can be gleaned from Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”. This hope is for today as much as it is for a future life in heaven.

        When hope is lost life can be dismal. People who are without hope often lose the will to go on.  Proverbs 13:12 talks about how hope “deferred makes the heart sick”. The refreshment of one’s hope relieves burdens and lifts loads. Meditating on scripture can help renew hope-consider the following:

• I Peter 1:21: “Through him [Christ] you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.”
• Ephesians 4:4: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;”
• I Corinthians 13:13: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
• I Corinthians 13:7: “It [love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
• Romans 5:5: “And hope does not put us to shame [some translations have ‘disappoint’ instead of shame], because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
• Romans 15:13 is a verse that can be spoken as a prayer for ourselves and others: “May the God of hope fill ___ with all joy and peace as ___ trust in him, so that ___ may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” 

During this Advent season, let us remember the reason for our hope and be ready to encourage others with this hope too.