As we saw in the last post, saving faith is accepting Christ’s invitation to enter into a loving relationship with Him made possible only because of His perfect love. Although we have been made with the capacity to love, our human love is corrupted by sin and therefore broken. But God, who is perfect love, showed us true love through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. By placing our trust completely in Christ and His finished work on the cross that secured our adoption into His family forever.
While salvation is a one-time event, just like birth or legal adoption, the choice to continue believing is a constant necessity while living on earth. In Colossians 2:6, Paul tells us that the Christian life is lived in the same way that it was begun, by faith in Christ. Every moment of the day, you are faced with choices to believe Christ and His Word or put your trust in your own understanding, emotions, or other human beings. Human relationships were designed to reflect love within the Godhead and God’s relationship with us. Just as relationships within a family can be strained and distant, so can your relationship with God. These choices to believe Christ and what He has said affects not only the love we share with God but also with every other human relationship.
So, what does hope have to do with all of this? Hope is a natural byproduct of faith. Faith and Hope are really just two sides of the same coin. Hope reveals the truth about who we love and trust. Just as we believe or put trust in many people and things here on earth, we also naturally hope for many things. However, just as saving faith is different than the everyday faith in other humans or things that are a necessary part of life, Biblical hope also runs much deeper. Biblical hope is defined as a joyful and sure expectation of God’s promises to us found in Jesus Christ. This ultimate hope will affect all other temporal belief patterns, desires, and hopes.
As a very simple example, the world is collectively hoping for an end to this virus and all of the painful ramifications associated with it. It is normal to desire life, health, closeness to those we love, financial security, routine, order, beauty, etc. Those aren’t wrong desires, but they reflect a heart made in God’s image with the capacity to enjoy and love the good gifts He has given. Remember that God created us in His image with emotions, desires, and the ability to think and choose. We have the capacity to love many things and people at the same time and to varying degrees.
What we choose to believe and meditate on drives our emotions and desires. We can’t control our emotions, but they simply reveal what is going on in our hearts and bodies. Hope is similar in that it is a word filled with emotion. Excitement, energy, peace, assurance, joy, pleasure can all be found in the word hope.
Study it Out
- Who is your ultimate hope according to Colossians 1:15-23,27-29? Why? How did that affect Paul’s daily decisions and motivations? How should it affect yours?
- Read Romans 5:1-5. How can trials and suffering produce hope? (Hint: It may help to consider the temporal hope found measuring yourself after faithfully exercising and eating right for several weeks in a row. There is a lot of pain, self-denial, and self-discipline involved; but why is the object of your faith worth the pain? What is the ultimate goal you are hoping for?) How does Hope in Christ and the new life in Him He has promised make suffering here on earth bearable?
- What false hopes, misplaced areas of trust, and wrong desires have recent trials revealed in your life? Have you experienced a renewed excitement for your eternal home with Jesus? Why can you be sure of what Christ has promised? (Hebrews 10:23)
- According to Colossians 3:1-4, why is it so important to know and believe the truth? How does fixing your mind on His truth shape your desires and ultimately your hope?
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls…Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:3-9, 13)
Additional Resources
Are you looking for more devotional or Scripture memory resources? Find gifts, artwork, crafts and other devotional printables at Etsy.com/Shop/BreathingGrace. You can also find the original Breathing Grace 50 day devotional on Amazon.com/author/RobertsSarah along with a 30 day devotional for Thanksgiving and a 31 day devotional and ornament maker for Advent. All devotionals are available in both KJV and ESV versions of the Bible.