Hope. Those four letters hold a profound impact, don’t they?
Various dictionaries define this word in various, somewhat vague ways:
To cherish a desire with anticipation.
To want something to happen or to be true, and usually have a good reason to think that it might.
To look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence.
Desire accompanied by expectation.
Someone (or something) on which expectations are centered.
What’s most interesting, however, is the definition from the original (Hebrew) language of the Bible: hope is referred to as expectation, yes, but also waiting, looking, and binding together.
I love this visual, of a cord tethering us to whatever we put our faith in. Although, the problem is that, if we’re tethered to anything besides Jesus—money, power, relationships, success, food, sex, romance, children, lust, control, self—we will be pulled down into the sinful, fleshy abyss of our fallen world.
And so, I’m going to keep this short and sweet…
Bind yourself to the One who doesn’t just give you a good reason to think He might provide, but every reason to be confident that He will:
The gruesome cross—that should’ve been ours but became His—is evidence that He will stop at nothing to protect, rescue, and redeem His beloved creations. We are His children, adopted into the Kingdom by Christ’s precious blood.
So, whatever you’re going through, know that you can put your hope in Someone who is bigger than your problems. Someone who will never fail, is always victorious, and always good.
You might not understand what He’s doing—how such bad things can be made good—but trust Him. Ponder what He’s done and imagine what He can do. Don’t bind yourself to the fleeting treasures of this world, but to the One who is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Matt 6:19, Heb 13:8).
For He, my friends, is the Truest Treasure of all. The Hope of Heaven, from age to age.
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