Above and Beyond

7.9.2010

Hebrews 6:11 11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end... ESV

What does hope in action look like; how is it displayed in everyday life? Why does the New Testament speak so often of hope? Because true hope is the result of true belief. Hope is the process, posture, or perspective that there is a promised goal or result that is truly going to happen at some point in the future. What we hope for in Christ is the fulfillment of all of God’s promises of eternity in His presence. Hope is not fickle and unbelieving wishful thinking - like I’d like to win the lottery (I think); hope is a fixed attitude that what God has promised will truly come to pass, and hope is my responding properly and living accordingly to His promises.

There ought to be a focus in my eye as I live out my remaining days here upon the earth. There ought to be a continual looking above and beyond the ebb and flow of earthly life to that of eternal life because God has promised it to me because I believe Him. I don’t place my belief in the government and what it promises because governments fail, change, and go away. But I do place my trust and my fully assured hope in God and in what He promises because His promises are as good as having them already; His promises are an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for [us] (1 Peter 1.4).

Hope in action is a life unservingly lived in a fixed believe in God’s promises and patiently waiting for them to come to pass – period. The full assurance of hope is that my God can never go wrong…

Father in Heaven,

You have promised, so I will live. Lord, You are helping me to unlearn all that I have come to believe is true and only live by what You reveal as true. Your Spirit is my Teacher, and Your word is my Guide. And by Your promises through all my experiences I will thus live and abide – in Jesus’ Name, amen.