Hope

What do you put your hope in?  Hope is something everyone needs, for without hope, all is lost.  There are many things people put their hope in.  People put their hope in other people, money, religion, fame, health, their 401K accounts and their retirement benefits, the stock markets, and their investments, and on and on it goes; hope is very essential for life.  If all we have is hope for this world, and for the different things we put our trust in, we will perish, with no hope for the next life.  

Now think of what it says in Mark 8:36-37, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what could a man give in exchange for his soul.”  

I am talking about eternal life that goes far beyond this life and can be only obtained through the Lord.  The Lord is not willing that any be lost but that all would come to repentance!!  This is the reason why your hope should be in the Lord, the creator of all heaven and earth, the One who said that whosoever believed in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.

Think of this, He loved us so much He made us in His image and likeness.  Now think of this, God had an eternal purpose when He sent His Son into the world and it wasn’t to condemn the world, but through Him the world might be saved.  Does God need us?  No, God is fully complete in Himself, He needs no one, but He chooses to love us.

Think of this, He created us so we could have fellowship with Him and also have a relationship with Him through true repentance and confession which means turning in the other direction and forsaking our sins by having a change of heart and mind and by receiving Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  I think I would be amiss if I didn’t add this, no one can have a relationship with the Lord by their own merits.  In other words, you cannot be right with the Lord by what you may say is your good works or what you might redeem as your own righteousness!!  Please read Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves—it is the gift of God. It is not based on deeds, so that no one may boast.”

The word of God also says in Isaiah 64:5, “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is like a filthy garment, and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away, like the wind.” 

It also says in Romans 3:10, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.” 

And, it also says in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Our only hope for this life, and the one to come, can only be through our faith and trust in the Lord!!  This is the greatest message there is, a message of grace, hope and love!!  If you want true hope, the only way you will ever find it is in God, the Father and His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ!!  

My prayer is that this message is a blessing and help and an encouragement to all who read it.  May the good Lord bless you and yours with His perfect peace, love, joy and health and happiness and may each of you find your hope in Him!!