hope makes no cent$

I recently watched a Lord of the Rings movie.  Great movie and I really noticed, like a lot, how the actors through around the word "hope" like a hacky sack.  They spoke of hope lost, hope found, hope regained, hopelessness... and on and on and on.  It is easy to get frustrated about many things in life.  It is easy, if we do not submit to the Holy Spirit, to see ourselves as unfit and inadequate for life, let alone to be faithful slaves of the gospel.  The world speaks of hope as something that we should be wary of holding to.  "Don't get your hopes up!" we are so often told, because the siren call of the day is wayward apathy.

BUT,

Hope is not easily lost.  In the same light, hope is not easily attained. Yet, hope is not a commodity that can be bartered, wagered, exchanged, or invested for return based on circumstances or situations.  Hope exists, or it doesn't.  If you believe this, they you have to believe that hope is ...  honestly you could put tons of adjectives to it: unshakable, unwavering, sound, true, etc.  But the best word to describe hope is: immutability.

That, my friends, is only if your hope is found in the Immutable One, Jesus Christ.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  1 Corinthians 15 describes the hope that we have in Jesus the Christ.  Why do we have hope? Why does it exist? And for what reason can we cling to His immutable hope?  Simple: the gospel.  Jesus was raised from the dead having defeated death and sin.  We have a double hope.  Hope in this life, to live it abundantly in intimacy with Jesus Christ and work diligently as His servant.  Hope in the next life, that if you have faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior you are indeed seen by God as righteous and will dwell with the Father forever in heaven ... praise God Almighty!!!



We have hope where the world does not.  You cannot buy this hope, circumstances cannot change the validity of this hope.  Hope in Jesus Christ is immutable.  Okay, great concept.  But what does this mean for you today? What does it mean for you right now?  It means that you are inadequate and worthless in your own skin.  But if you have the hope of the gospel because you have faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord you are clothed and wrapped in His righteousness! When circumstances and situations lurk around and fight to steal your joy from intimacy with Jesus and His word, you can cling to Jesus and fight back victoriously because Jesus has overcome the world.  If you eyes are fixed on this hopeless earth, all you are going to see is hopelessness.  But if your eyes are fixed on the gospel of Christ, gaze clearly tuned into the truth of Scripture, seeking firmly after the Lord ... then your eyes are fixed on the Immutable One, and the hope you have in Him will be further kindled and ignited!