WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST HOPE?

BIBLE PASSAGE:
You are my refuge and my shield;
I have put my hope in your word.
(Psalm 119:114)

MEDITATION:
How many times have you heard, or used the word “hope”?
Webster defines the word as,
    “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen”.

You have a big test coming up and you say,
    “I hope I do well”.
You have a big game coming up and you say,
    “I hope I play well”.
Your child has some performance coming up and you say,
    “I hope he (or she) does well”.
It’s not a guarantee that something good will happen, but it is
a desire that it will.

When we say we have hope in the Lord, in essence we are saying
that we have a desire to be with Him at the end of our earthly
journey. Have you ever wondered what those who have no hope
in the Lord are looking forward to at the end of their journey?
It’s sad to think of others having no hope for eternity, isn’t it?

We don’t like to talk about death; it’s the forbidden subject of
our generation. Yet it’s real for all of us. Sometimes on television
we see movies featuring actors who are no longer living. They
seem very much alive in the movie, but they are deceased.

Death is real, and when we die, it is a journey we have to travel
all alone; nobody can be with us in that hour. But the Psalmist,
David, said he found an answer that would take the fear of death
away. David said there is an answer to death; there is a hope
beyond death.

No matter what turmoil was going on in his life, he could always
look forward to his life in a new world. That hope is centered in
the risen Jesus Christ. Paul wrote that to be “absent from the body”
is to be “present with the Lord”.

Meditate on that for a moment and visualize being absent from
your body and in the presence of the Lord. It is a great hope isn’t
it? It is also a hope that includes a guarantee (according to God’s
Word); it is a hope we would think everyone would desire.

ACTION:
Have you put your hope in the Lord? If not, then why not?
If you ignore all of the things of this world (goals, friends,
hobbies, etc.) and focus only on what happens at the end of
your life’s journey, you would love to reunite with Christians
friends and family in Heaven (with Jesus), wouldn’t you?

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, I want to be with You in Heaven at
the end of my earthly journey. Lord, I place my hope in
You. Forgive me for my failures and become Lord of my
life in ALL things, and not just a handful of areas that
I am willing to relinquish. I want to obey You in ALL
areas of my life according to Your Word. With complete
trust I look toward (with hope) to that day when I will be
with You for eternity.”

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