We Have This Hope

Robert Darling, a 56-year-old panhandler from Bradley Beach, NJ, travels once a week to Manhattan in search of a wife. His multi-colored cardboard sign reads: "I'm looking for a wealthy lady to be my wife." And he really does mean "wealthy", as in a net worth of at least $750,000, although he does add that "Ladies not yet rich but very well off will be considered." After ten years of trying, Darling hasn't had any offers yet. But he's not discouraged. "The odds may be great," he said, "but I'm still hopeful. I'll never give up." 

Hopeful...it is a really important emotion. Hope is vital for our day-to-day survival in life. In Romans 15:4, we are told: "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have HOPE."

This is not the kind of hope that says things like, "I sure hope __________________ happens"; or "I sure hope ________________________ doesn't happen." God's kind of hope could best be described as an attitude of confidence, expectation, and trust.

In Job 6:11-13, Job says: "What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient? Do I have the strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze? Do I have any power to help myself, now that success has been driven from me?" Job was saying that if he had godly hope, he could be confident and he could live life with the expectation that things would be okay...in spite of how they are now. The thing is, a President, in spite of campaign promises, can't give us this kind of hope. Our bank account can't give us this kind of hope. Our family or friends cannot give us this kind of hope. This kind of confidence and expectation can only be rooted in God.

Hebrews 6:17-19, tells us: "Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.  God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the HOPE offered to us may be GREATLY ENCOURAGED.  We have this hope as an ANCHOR FOR THE SOUL, firm and secure...." Hope provides encouragement and is the anchor for our soul in times of difficulties and struggles. Our hope, as Christians, is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ.

First Corinthians 13 tells us that the three greatest gifts God gives us is "faith, hope, and love". So if hope is such a valuable gift from God, how can we experience it? This week we are going to zero in on Romans 15:1-4. In these four verses, Paul tells us three ways we can develop this kind of hope in our lives.