Christian hope

If our future is not secured and satisfied by God then we are going to be excessively anxious. We end up thinking about ourselves, our future, our problems and our potential. But HOPE is the birthplace of Christian self-sacrificing love. That's because we just let God take care of us and aren't preoccupied with having to work to take care of ourselves. We say, "Lord, I just want to be there for other people tomorrow, because you're going to be there for me." If we don't have the hope that Christ is for us then we will be engaged in self- preservation and self-enhancement. But if we let ourselves be taken care of by God for the future, whether five minutes or five centuries from now, then we can be free to love others. Then God's glory will shine more clearly, because that's how he becomes visible. When God satisfies us so deeply that we're free to love other people then he becomes more manifest. When you read the word "hope" in the Bible (1Peter 1:13) "set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ"), hope is not wishful thinking. It's not "I don't know if it's going to happen, but I hope it happens." That's absolutely not what is meant by Christian hope. Christian hope is when God has promised that something is going to happen and you put your trust in that promise. Christian hope is a confidence that something will come to pass because God has promised it will come to pass. What has Christ done for me in my sinful condition that enables me to know that I will not come in to judgment and condemnation and that all things are working together for my good? And the answer is that Christ died for me, rose again for me, and therefore all the promises of God are yes in him. So let's look away from the circumstances that confront us, look to Christ, look to the promises, and hold fast to them. Hope comes from the promises of God rooted in the work of Christ.