Such Hope

“…Character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope… Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us…”                                                                                                                       Romans 5:4-5

 

There is a need and a place for hope in our lives. We must have something to fix our sights on, something we are moving toward. It’s our nature. Hope is a powerful rudder moving us out of the waters of apathy, self-defeat, and doubt into the waters into the river of belief. It only takes a little push in the right direction and faith can become an anchor for our souls keeping us grounded in Christ.

According to Romans 5, there is a kind of hope that never disappoints.  Such hope is habitual, joy-filled, and confident. It is not a weak airy, “I hope so” kind of thing. It’s a hope built on years of trusting God and seeing His faithfulness; it’s filled with joy because it knows God can be counted on and even if the things we are hoping for fall through–God has something better in mind.

Real hope is confident that God’s hands are on our lives and that He is tenderly and carefully watching over our hopes and dreams.  We are confident that we have what we ask for, that He hears us, and that it is His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. 

This hope is habitual, constant, joy-full, not tentative, but confident. It is strong enough to step out on. This hope quickly grows into faith…in fact, it is the breeding ground for real, powerful, faith!