Hope

There’s war in the east. They say there’s going to be no social security benefits for any of us who are under 50.  Divorce, murder, drug use, and violent crime go up every year.

It seems at times like there’s no hope.  In fact (even though I’m not a pessimist) I would say that there isn’t any…

…if the east, the government, and the society are what were putting our hope in.

The good news, friends, is that hope is not only real, it’s HUGE!  More than either you or I can imagine… listen to the words of Paul in Romans 15,

“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.”

Notice that in Paul’s recipe for hope, we are told to have endurance and to take the encouragement that virtually flows from every phrase of Scripture!  Endurance is a combination of strength and conditioning.  It takes work, “heart”, and “guts” to possess true endurance.  Are we willing to put that effort in to have hope?  To benefit from the encouragement of God’s Holy Scriptures, we must invest two things, time and mold-ability.  Pledge to be disciplined in spending time where real encouragement can be found… and to be submissive to its loving, shaping touch.

…and the result…

Hope.

We could use some.

Praise to the King for the gift of His hope…