HOPE IS NOT LOST
Announcing our next study starting on Monday, April 7th.
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. ” (Hebrews 6:19, NIV)
A while back I lost a bracelet, and I went looking for it all over the place. I searched the pocket of my jeans, and I looked in the crevices of my couch. My husband came home from work and found me ransacking the bedroom dresser and looking quite frazzled. As a fixer who likes to solve problems and help me when I am in distress, he stood in the doorway and asked me how he could help.
“I lost my hope bracelet.” I groaned in frustration. My favorite silver bracelet has the word hope engraved on it. On hard days, I look down at my wrist, and it helps remind me that my hope is not rooted in my ever-changing circumstances. My hope is anchored to Christ and remains totally secure.
This particular day was a very hard day, and I wanted to wear my bracelet. . . except my hope had gone into hiding, and I was about to lose it.
Bruce has a fabulous sense of humor that sometimes gets him into trouble, and this was one of those moments. . . because he kind of chuckled to himself as he crawled under the bed to help me look, and he said something to the effect of “Oh no! She’s lost her hope.”
At that moment I did not find his remarks funny. Only after he had located my bracelet and handed it back to me was I able to smile.
Now I am going to confess something: For the longest time, I did not really understand the true meaning of hope in the life of a believer. I had put my faith in Christ, but I didn’t understand that the word hope now had a new meaning – things had radically changed in my life because the power of the resurrected Christ and His Holy Spirit now lived in me. I could walk in a new confidence because of Him, but I didn’t fully comprehend that at first.
You see, hope for the Christ follower is not wishful thinking that something might happen. Hope is a “confident expectation and assurance” that what God says in His Word is true. This world offers us little certainty that anything is true or sure. But our God stands firm. His “Yes” is always and forever “Yes.”
You and I don’t have to look around us at all that is messed up in this world and live overwhelmed by anxiety. The God of Hope wants to fill us up with faith-filled anticipation as we trust in His faithfulness:
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you will abound in hope and overflow with confidence in His promises.” (Romans 15:13, AMP)