WHERE IS YOUR HOPE?

Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear
to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.
God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie,
we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus,
has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
HEBREWS 6:17-20

In a world that is unstable and becoming more unstable at a rapid pace, where is your hope?
For believers, our hope is in a Person – the Lord Jesus Christ.
He sits at the right hand of God and has given us these instructions,
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.”
(John 14:1)

When He tells is to ‘believe’ He is implying ‘place your hope’.
So He tells us to place our hope in Him.
Why? Because He is already in Heaven and is preparing a home for all who believe in Him.
The world can blindside us with many unpleasant surprises.
However, even though some lawmakers may think they are in control, God is still in control.
Oh sure, they are in control of the laws of the land,
but they are not in control of our ultimate future.

We have options for our focus.
We can focus on the unpleasant things of the world and become depressed and feel helpless.
Or, we can focus on what Jesus is doing for us right now and ‘believe in Him’.
When our focus is on the Lord Jesus Christ, we will not have unpleasant thoughts.
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”
(Hebrews 6:19)
The world tries to please everyone and ends up pleasing no one,
but Jesus is interested in all of us and wants to bless us.
How comforting is that?

We may not agree with the choices of others, but we have to remember that Jesus loves them.
He loves them the same way He loved believers when they were still sinners (before being saved).
We need to guard against developing a spiritual pride that can be devoid of love.
Spend time reading about Him and His followers in the New Testament.
It is an exciting book to read – it is filled with hope and expectations of a Heavenly reward.

God has always been in control, He is still in control, and He will always be in control.

Pray and ask the Lord to remind you of your real hope….in Him.
Ask Him to reveal any areas of arrogant pride that you may have.
Ask Him to make you aware of any hate you may have for those He loves.
He is our hope and we have a responsibility to share our hope with others.
Our efforts should not be focused on changing others (God does that),
but rather to let them know why we believe in Jesus, and why He is our hope.

Think about this.
If there is a pending election and you are voting for candidate A
and another person is voting for candidate B.
Chances are you are not going to convince the other person to vote for candidate A
and he or she is not going to convince you to for candidate B.
However you can explain why you are voting for candidate A
without having the goal of changing the other person’s mind.
We need to believe what we say we believe, and be ready to share with others why we believe.