I have this one great thing left to share. I am whittled by circumstances, worn by the winds of time and change, blistered by the overexposure to sin, and constantly groaning in growing older. There are few public announcements and political choices I am able to get behind and promote. Sickness and disease, poverty and crime, wars not of my choosing, and scandals at every turn seem to define the sum of life’s experiences. Children in slavery, women in bondage, greed in control and power over people are the goals of many. Yet I have this one great thing left to share.
It is not the last gasp but the first joy. It is not that I’m at the end of my rope but rather that the wall built up against me is about to crumble. There is not an unknown darkening desperate day of foreboding controlling my every thought. There is not a mountain of insurmountable fear to cower under. There is one great thing which has been ours from the first breathe we ever took and that is HOPE!
It is not hope in the ability of mankind to sort out the greatest good for everyone to enjoy. It is not freedom from strife, turmoil, tyranny or death. It is not even something that everyone will have at the end of their struggle. But it is mine and I share it with you because you need it almost as much as I do. Hope is not in me or you but in Him. It is by His Word, His promises, His performance and mostly by the price He paid to provide it. He is Jesus the Christ of God. He has given us exceeding great and precious promises to know, to trust in, to bring us to the faith in Him and His ability.
Abraham was promised something no one had ever received before. Joseph was stripped and imprisoned and cast into the darkest dungeon he could have imagined and yet through hope in His God was delivered. Moses, Daniel, Job, King David, Rahab, Ruth, Jeremiah, all were wanting in personal ability until the God of Heaven intervened with hope for their tomorrow. We are all cursed with the presence of evil, the badge of shame, the fear of believing the lies of the pretender. We labor under the load of cares, concerns, calamities and are daily guilty as charged. We often slide beneath the ocean of falsehood and the deception of the prince of the power of the air for no reason other than we have taken our eyes off of hope. Without Him as your Savior you have no hope.
He is our hope, Jesus! He is our promise of eternal life, freedom from condemnation, deliverance from bondage and oppression. He, Jesus, is the healer of both the physical and the spiritual. It is His Word that cleanses our minds, focuses us on the world which is our home and dares to promise those things which we have not yet seen as though they already are. Faith in Him is our salve, our balm, our covering. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. By faith we hope in a better tomorrow and in the world to come. It is not that hope will make everything okay or right. It is that hope says that He will make all things new. He will change that which is vile into the likeness of His glorious body. Our minds are transformed by His word, proving what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
For those who have never known Him, He is the power of God unto salvation. He brings hope beyond the condemnation of death, hell and the grave. He delivers from the sins which control and cleanses the filth of the flesh. He makes the past unknowable and the future unimaginably wonderful. He changes the sight of the blind and the heart of the heartless. He never gives up on those who are willing to believe. He pursues and perseveres until the peace of God which passes all understanding rises in your hearts. He is forgiveness and salvation and the source of your strength to obey and follow and proclaim Him as your Lord.
For those who have tasted of the good gift of God and have known the presence of the indwelling Holy Ghost, He is the power to prevent them from falling away. He is the restoration of all things, and the testimony of the reason of the hope that is in you. He has promised and He is fully able to perform that which is good for you and in you. There is no temptation or trial which has taken you that He is not able to provide the way of escape. He declares that He will perform that good thing which He has promised to His chosen people. He is Hope! Jesus, the Son of the living Lord, Jesus the sacrificial Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, Jesus is our Hope!
Without hope you are in turmoil struggling to overcome the oppression of evil without God or His Son. Struggles do not become insurmountable in an instant but after long periods of affliction and surrender. He in an instant will speak the word of Hope. He declares “I AM”. He is the answer of a good conscience toward God by His resurrection. His presence is indescribable. His comfort is incalculable. His promise for our good is beyond the scope of any mortal to comprehend. He brings the veil of darkness into the light of His love and demolishes its deception with one single word. There is no temptation, no threat, no time of doubting and fear which He has not seen and known and already conquered. If we live in fear it is because we are not overwhelmed by His love.
Hope is ours. Hope is in Him. Hope is in knowing that this world is not our home, that this life shall put on immortality, that death is swallowed up in the victory which He is. Hope without Jesus is such foolish denial. His truth is our hope. His redemption is our hope. Hope is the only strength you have to look at a world which has turned right for wrong and wrong for right. Hope is Jesus, in His Word, in His promises. Hope is more than enough to allow you to soar in joy above all the heartaches and fears and uncertainties you are subject to seeing each day. You see them without being conquered by them because He is your Hope. He has a plan for you that includes your good, your future and your blessings. He is all the Hope you need.