Chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians closes with these words.." and now these remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." We hear much abut faith and much about love but hope seems to be the neglected triplet.
Dr. Armand Mayo Nicoli of Harvard Medical School writes: "The word hope is used and heard little in our culture. Perhaps hope conflicts with our concept of a scientific world." Many books exist about faith and love but very few on hope. Hope is essential to sanity and a balanced outlook on life. We all need to hope, as hope will sustain us in perilous times.
Hope looks forward to something good. Faith looks to the person who has promised and hope to the thing promised. Faith is the root, hope is the fruit. Faith looks to who and hope to what. Real hope for the future is grounded in the promise of God and guaranteed in the resurrection of Christ Jesus. Hope needs to be based on reality. It is not a mere wish or strong desire.
In a world filled with fear for the future, do you have a hope? Where is your hope and on what is it based? It seems we need to examine to see if our hope is real hope or a mere dream. The hymn writer wrote these words in his song, "The Solid Rock" :
"My hope is built on nothing less,
than Jesus blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus name."
Put your trust in God. His promise never fails.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
as you trust in him,
so that you may overflow with hope
by the power of the Holy Spirit.
~Romans 15:13
Thank you very, very much.
Bill Gibson
Texas, October 1990
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