Eminent 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.

I Peter 1:3-6

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.

I Peter 1:13

Currently I am past the halfway mark of SBS! I am finding such enjoyment in what the LORD has called me to in SBS. There are days that feel much longer than others. Yesterday for instance, (being conservative with how I calculated my time) I worked for about 14 hours on the book of Kings. Amazing book, amazing opportunity taken to be here, very aware of how human I am as I continue through this Bible Course.

I was thinking about the underlying theme that makes me keep going. It is outside of the obvious; I am a missionary, I am called to be on the field, ministering to people, to love other cultures – but is this really hard to do? To a friend back home who reads an update of mine with wanderlust, it may be the most appealing thing in the world. To myself, in the moments that I lack this one thing, it is difficult.

I am finding out in the midst of my amazing opportunity here, that hope is so key for whatever the Lord brings people into. And not just having hope, but being aware of it and using it.

When I am not accessing the hope I have, its like having the ability to fly, and never using it. I can tell people, ‘I can fly! Seriously, the only person in the world who can fly, its me!’  I could go on about how cool it is that I can fly-I can describe how it is much more convenient than taking the bus, but if I don’t actually fly, what a waste that would be!

Part of the assignment that comes with every book in this course, is not only interpreting the books based upon their purpose, situation and audience, but I have to pull out timeless truths that would apply to people at any point in history. This is a challenge and is actually really fun. The hard part is pulling out timeless truths for humanity in general and not just for believers. It is easy to see how the Bible applies to everyone, but is it realistic to say,

‘Choosing to have hope keeps a person in the right mindset regardless of circumstance’

Or

‘Choosing to have hope keeps a believer in the right mindset regardless of circumstance’

Are people who don’t know Jesus able to have hope? What do they place their hope in? People are called to have hope who don’t know Jesus, but they can’t really use that hope unless their circumstances change, becoming a believer, right?

"Our hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness"…

So the song goes that I have heard throughout my childhood. (Songs like this, when heard, make me thankful for a hymn-singing Dad).

In the midst of what you are doing, wherever you are, whatever you are working towards, is hope carrying you there? The real, true assurance of Jesus coming back one day? Is this the hope that gives fuel to your heart when you are caught up in the things that seemingly lack hope?

The author and finisher of our [hope] has given the ability to fly, are we ready to? Or are we more content with talking about how cool it is, while our feet grow tired?