Joy in Hope
Scripture Reading — Philippians 2:9-11
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
Proverbs 13:12
Is there hope? Have you ever asked parents who just buried a teenage daughter? Or a man diagnosed with HIV? Or someone in the grip of depression?
Not only is hope a basic ingredient in life; it is the hunger of every human heart. Someone said, “Keep hoping; you keep living. Stop hoping; you die—inside.”
What is the hope that enables people to go on living, even when things go terribly wrong?
For the Christian, it begins with the vision that Jesus rules the world today; Christ’s rule calls for making all things right so that everyone can live fully, as God intends. This hope leads to the passion that everyone will know God’s love and forgiveness and Jesus’ victory over sin and death. And this hope is revealed in mission—bringing the joyful light of Jesus into every dark corner of this world, especially into people’s hearts.
Jesus is “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). He is the one way to hope and full life!
If we know this is true, can we put this hope aside and keep it to ourselves, knowing that many will never know the way to true life and peace? That would be a strange response to the hope-filled vision, passion, and mission of Jesus himself.
Can you confess this hope: “In Christ alone my hope is found. He is my light, my strength, my song”?
Dear Lord, thank you for shining the light of your grace into the darkness of my soul. Continue to fill me with your hope so that I may share it with others, to your praise. Amen.
About the author — Calvin Hoogendoorn
Rev. Calvin Hoogendoorn serves as senior pastor of First Christian Reformed Church in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Previously he served two churches in Illinois. He and his wife, Carla, have three daughters.
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