Epic Hope

Everyone knows I believe in God on the first day they meet me. That doesn't mean I am trying to make you a believer, I just want you to know I have hope in my life, and that is not something you can deny in me. Now if you believe I have something to hope in that you discover you need, then we will have that conversation about believing in God, but if I do not exhibit hope under any circumstance I give you every right to refuse the belief in my God.

There are many things that you can hope for. You can hope for success with you job, you can hope to fall in love, you can hope you are healthy wealth and wise. You feel hope when you hear a love song or watch a romantic movie, when you buy a house or pay off a car or when you accomplish something that is going to send you forward in life, but ask yourself, can I PUT MY HOPE IN THIS?

But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. (Romans 8:24, 25 NIV)

Is it possible to put you hope in something you already have? Or is hoping FOR something different than hoping IN something or someone? What happens when hope is lost and there is no hope left?

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5:3-4

Ironically, as we choose to put our hope in things that will inevitably fail, we are lead to have greater hope. But if we continue to hope in these things that only disappoint and cause suffering then what hope do we really have?

Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord. There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off. (Proverbs 23:17, 18 NIV)

The Bible says:
And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:5-8 NIV)

Even when there are Epic Failures in the things we choose to hope in, God does not fail. People fail, money fails, health fails but Hope in God will not fail!

In his name the nations will put their hope." (Matthew 12:21 NIV)

Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
my hope comes from him. (Psalm 62:5 NIV)