Growing health and effectiveness

A blog centered around The Addington Method, leadership, culture, organizational clarity, faith issues, teams, Emotional Intelligence, personal growth, dysfunctional and healthy leaders, boards and governance, church boards, organizational and congregational cultures, staff alignment, intentional results and missions.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

The amazing gift of hope

Hope is one of the most wonderful gifts that we have as Christ followers. The word is used 76 times in the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians 13, the three things that remain for all time are faith, hope and love (1 Corinthians 13: 13). Hope is a gift that we gain when we give our lives to Jesus and it remains with us forever.

  Consider these contexts:

  • We boast in the hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:2)
  • We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure (Hebrews 6:19.
  • Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1)
  • Set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming (1 Peter 1:13)
  • the hope of eternal life (Titus 1:2)
  • We have put our hope in the living God (1 Timothy 4:10)
  • so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13)
  • I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you (Ephesians 1:18)
In every challenge of life we have the gift of hope. No matter what our circumstance we have hope. On the verge of death we have the ultimate hope - that of eternal life with Jesus. For those of us who lose a loved one we have the hope of the resurrection and the greatest family reunion of all time. Hope is our constant companion, our daily gift, our sustaining anchor. It is the antidote to despair, discouragement and hurt. 

Hope is a gift given but it is up to us to claim it and live in it. We choose either to embrace the gift of hope or to allow ourselves to move toward discouragement and despair. God is the author of the gift of hope, Satan the author of hopelessness. The gift is ours. Will we embrace the hope we have in Jesus today?

There is much in life to be pessimistic about but if you consider all the gifts and blessings we have in Jesus Christ, in this life and the next, how can we live in pessimism? In the end, Jesus prevails over all things and we with Him! There is no circumstance of life that is not covered by the hope we have in Jesus. None. 

Choose hope today!
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