A Living Hope

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary you have been grieved by many trials.” –I Peter 1:3-7 (ESV).

For nine consecutive days we have looked at the subject of love, from the Lord’s command that we love one another to the astounding concept that “God is love.”  We looked at family love, burden-bearing love, and the characteristics of love.  On Patriot Day (9/11) we saw how love remembers.  We examined how love endures and how when we love others, it is proof that we love God.  We leave the subject of love, not because nine short teachings have in any way exhausted the in-depth subject of God’s love for us or how we should exercise Christian love, but to move on to another vital concept.  For days now the word “Hope” has been in my thinking.  Perhaps it is the times we live in that brought the need for hope so keenly to my mind.  Have you heard the national and international news this week?  Extreme unrest is volatile in many countries of the world, especially in the East.  The death of a U. S. Ambassador to Libya and three others occurred.  We witnessed on television their bodies’ being returned to the U. S.  Much mistrust is rampant at home and abroad.  Where is hope in the welter of world events?

We need desperately to renew hope, or confident expectation, trust.  Is there a way to do this? I looked in Strong’s Concordance and read scriptures of many of the more-than-a-column of references on the word hope.  Both Old Testament and New Testament citations abound for God’s Word on hope.  And so often the declaration was “my hope is in God” (Ps. 39:7; 42, 5, 11; 43:5; 71:5, 14).:I chose as the focal passage today the verses from Peter’s first epistle, because he was writing of the “living hope” to which Christians should hold; and the times they lived in then were volatile and uncertain.  Scholars believe Peter wrote the epistle during the reign of Emperor Nero who ruled the Roman Empire from A. D. 54-68.  Peter addressed the letter to the “elect exiles” scattered abroad in the dispersion to “Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.”  Times were hard and persecution of the Christians was rife.  Peter wanted them to hold steadfastly to their faith and to think of “the living hope” made possible through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and the promise of “an inheritance…imperishable, undefiled, unfading kept in heaven for you.”  Indeed, a reminder of the salvation in Jesus Christ and the inheritance in heaven would keep the Christians looking forward regardless of current circumstances. Christian hope is strengthened by the Scriptures.  Maybe you would like to take your concordance, as I did, and read several references on hope.  The promises of the Word will make your heart rejoice, regardless of current circumstances.  The gift of the Holy Spirit to encourage and lift us is further assurance of a living hope for believers.  Then we should wear hope around our heads as a helmet (I Thessalonias 5:8) so that at all times we will be able to share our hope with others.  On the other hand, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12).  A constant position for the Christian is to “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer” (Romans 12:12).  With God’s help we can!