Living In Hope
In Romans 5:1-2 the Apostle Paul writes these words to the church at Rome.
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
This chapter lays out some of the benefits of *justification:
*Declared righteous by God. Just as if we had never sinned.
• We have peace with God.
• We have access to God.
• We have the love of God.
• We have the Spirit of God.
In verse 2 Paul says we "rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
I know I have misunderstood the word "HOPE". To me, it meant something I'm wishing for, or something I think might happen. I would maybe say "I HOPE the Cubs win today." But did I really expect them to win? Not really!
This word HOPE is not a whim, a wish, or even a want.
HOPE is the absolute expectation that something will happen.
When we order something on Amazon, we have the absolute expectation that whatever we ordered will arrive at our doorstep very soon. We HOPE for it!
When we go to the drive-thru at Chick-fil-a we have the absolute expectationthat after we order our food we'll receive the food we ordered. We don't sit in line and think "I really wish Chick-fil-a will come through." No! We expect them to fulfill the order. That is HOPE!
In this verse, Paul assures us that we can rejoice in the absolute expectationthat our *glorification will take place.
*Philippians 3:20-21 "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself."
How much greater HOPE can we have in our Lord Jesus Christ than we do in Amazon or Chick-fil-a?!
We can have HOPE that Jesus will keep His promises and that one day we will go to Heaven and be made like Him.
May we live today like we have HOPE!
1 Corinthians 15:51-58
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Romans 15:13 - Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
