“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I have hope in Him.” (Lamentations 3:24, NASB)
As we get older, our hope narrows. Narrows means more focused and more assured. In golf, our hope evolves as well. I don’t hope to hit the ball as far and as high or play 36 holes a day, but I continue to focus on the enjoyment of this great game with good friends. I am learning to be content. Notice I said “learning” and not “have learned.” I am a reluctant student.
Why is hope important? Well, it is one of the big three in 1 Corinthians 13: “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” With that beautiful list, I guess coming in second or third is not that bad. I have come to believe that all three are necessary and related in ways that cannot be separated. They must all three be united as one for the impact to be realized.
The greatest may be love, but only because we have hope exhibited by our faith. The object of our hope and faith is in the God who loves us with magnificent monotony.
I not only have hope, but I have assurance that the greatest love ever exhibited is Jesus dying for us and promising that he will always be with us. My hope rests in his finished work. This is where my faith originates. I believe that when we start to understand the relationship of these three great character traits God has given us, the outcome will be eternal hope based on our faith in God, knowing he first loved us. Maybe that’s why love is the greatest. It started with him.
I can’t earn hope. I can’t manufacture hope. But I can make a choice as to where to place my hope.Gabriel Marcel noted that “hope is for the soul what breathing is for the living organism.” G. K. Chesterton added: “There is one thing which gives radiance to everything. It is the idea of something around the corner.” Samuel Johnson observed: “The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope.” A mouse dropped in water will give up and drown in minutes. But if it is rescued, it will tread water for more than twenty hours the next time.
I can’t earn hope. I can’t manufacture hope. But I can make a choice as to where to place my hope. Today I will place my hope in God and have faith that what he said is true. The response to hope is loving God and my neighbor. This is right where God wants us to be. I have assurance because of the truthfulness of the One who first loved me. I need all three—faith, hope, and love.
Let’s choose hope. Our individual faith is exhibited in our hope that what God says is true. Max Lucado says, “Because God’s promises are unbreakable, our hope is unshakable.”
The hymnist wrote, “On Christ the solid rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand.” My hope is in the Rock of Ages. Where’s yours?
—
Randy Wolff
April 1, 2020
Copyright 2020 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
Photo by Robert Acurin from Pexels