Hope

Hope...

What is it? I mean truly what is hope?

Here are some scriptures about hope I found...

Romans 5:4, "endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope."

Job 14:7, "There is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its shoots will not die."

Psalm 65:5, "You answer us in righteousness, with awe-inspiring works, God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the distant seas."

Romans 8:24-25, "Now in this hope we were saved, yet hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience."

Romans 15:4, "For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures."

1 Corinthians 13:13, "Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."

1 Corinthians 13:7, "It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

Hebrews 3:6, "But Christ was faithful as a Son over His household. And we are that household if we hold on to the courage and the confidence of our hope."

Hebrews 6:19, "We have this hope as an anchor for our lives, safe and secure."

2 Corinthians 3:12, Psalm 31:24, 1 Peter 1:15, Psalm 43:5, Hosea 12:6, Job 11:18, and Psalm 62:5 are some other great verses about hope... and many others. 

So what can I learn from these verses?....

• Endurance produces proven character which produces hope.
• Hope can't die... even if you lose hope it still exists. 
• Hope isn't seen, it's hoping for things unseen.
• We have hope through endurance, and encouragement from the Scriptures.
• Hope will always remain.
• Love is hope.
• Jesus is the confidence of our hope.
• We have this hope as an anchor for our lives, safe and secure
• Hope is only found in Jesus. No matter where we look for it... it's only in Him.

Never lose hope... it's found in Jesus. 

Indescribable

Indescribable. That is a perfect word to even begin to describe God’s breath-taking creations. The mountains are lovely. The ocean is majestic. The rolling hills covered with grass are wonderful. The flowers are beautiful. The stars are terrific. And you, as one of His creations, are rare. You are unique and special to His plan. You didn’t choose Him. He chose you. He doesn’t need you. He wants you. He loves you. Indescribable. 

Psalm 18:2, "The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my mountain where I seek refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."

Psalm 33:6, "The heavens were made by the word of the Lord, and all the stars, by the breath of His mouth."

John 15:16, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you."

Living For Him

We hear all the time 'Live for Jesus'... which is true. 

As believers in Christ than believing isn't enough, even the demons know Jesus is Lord (Mark 5:7) We are to be followers of Jesus as well.

How many of you have read or done something that you consider life changing? *raise my hand*

I know that I've been on mission trips that I consider life changing.. read books that I consider that too. And other things....

But a thought occurred to me recently... "Are we living out the change in us?"

Living out the change in us, what does that even mean?

We have things happen to us that change us, we are changed. But sometimes we hold that change inside, not living it out.

For instance : let's just say that you read a book about sharing the gospel. It had views in it that you had never considered before, you consider yourself changed. But then you go about your day and think about the book... but you don't do anything about it. 

We are called to share the gospel (Matthew 28:18-20). And we are to live for Jesus (Galatians 1:10, Philippians 1:21). 

Living for Jesus can be hard... especially when we face so much opposition. But so did the first century believers, and Jesus did. 

It's never going to get easier, but we have to trust in God no matter what. And keep our eyes onto what is ahead. 

We are to live out the change in us. 

Which basically means, if you're a Christian then God has changed you... so you are to live out Him.

Living for Jesus is simple, but it isn't easy. 

Looking Up

On Sunday in church something caught my attention. In my small group in Life Group we read Colossians 3:1-4 and the word 'above' stuck out to me. 

We're supposed to look on what is ahead, eternity, and focus on what's above.

Colossians 3:1-2, "So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth." (highlights and italics are mine)

But a lot of the time we tend to focus on the now....

not on what is ahead.

But honestly this earth is temporary, it won't last. And the things on this earth will fade away.

Matthew 6:19-21, "Don’t collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (italics are mine)

We live on this earth not for ourselves and just this earth. 

We live on this earth for God and for what is coming, what is ahead.

So what exactly does living for what is ahead mean?.... and how do we keep our eyes on what is ahead?...

I have to really think about those questions... Living for what is ahead means what is says : living with eternity in view. Which leads to the second question...

We keep our eyes on what is above and ahead by focusing on Who is above and ahead. Jesus Christ, King of the World, Maker of the Universe, God, The Son. 

Sometimes my mom has asked me this question, 'In the light of eternity does it really matter?' 

To me that is a great question to ask. We get upset and spend our time over the silliest and dumbest things. But 'in the light of eternity does it really matter?'

Usually the answer is no. It's not going to matter one day whether so and so didn't like our post, or whether you wore the 'right' outfit.  

We are to keep in mind eternity. We are to focus on Him, King over all. We are to look up.

Living for Him, day in and day out.