I find myself easily discouraged when I read the daily news—because there are very few matters to rejoice in…and much to grieve over! When we consider a world in chaos and the national headlines that paint a grim future for our children—I find myself frustrated…and even angry!
We all long for something more—where righteousness, truth, and peace reign! We were designed/ created to live this way (as it was in the Garden)—but sin has marred our world—and even our very lives!
In the end—we long for heaven—where God will reign over all of life—and He will bring a final judgment upon sin. This is our hope—and Biblical hope is more than a mere wish! Biblical hope is the confident expectation of a better future—and it is grounded in the trustworthiness of God Himself!
So—we hope in God—and His promises of a future free from sin—and its’ consequences—where God’s peace and righteousness are on full display! When sin is dealt its’ final blow (when God executes His righteous judgment upon sin and the unrighteous) then death and suffering and tears will be no more—THIS IS OUR HOPE!
I can’t imagine living today—without the confident expectation of this hope. We are not like the gentiles—who “have NO hope—and are WITHOUT God in the world,” (Eph. 2:12). We are blessed with this knowledge—and it also creates open doors for the Gospel with those who don’t know Christ!
Beyond all of this…is the soberness of the day and the life we are called to live. Since God has declared His verdict upon sin—and His fierce and eternal judgment of it—how, then, should this confident hope instruct us to live…
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.” Titus 2:11-14
By God’s grace—and for His Glory—may we be reminded that this world is not our home and that we seek to be found living lives that honor our King when he returns in all His Glory!