There she was, laying there on the bed with her teenager friends gathered around her. Thousands upon thousands had been praying for her yet the disease had never been healed. The medical staff had done all they could do for her. Many were very upset, especially her parents.
Yet then the young girl, full of faith and love turned to her people in the room and told them all: "Why do you look as if you have no hope. In a few minutes I shall be healed and with the Savior. Take the love among us and go share with the world."
Her words inspired many of her friends to go forth for missions, for other work in the cause of the gospel, and to walk in a spirit of hope with great anticipation that the best is not past but still to come in the future.
I am amazed at the times that saints walk around in despair. One theologian wisely said: "Those who live in depression are often failing to see that God's providence is at work in their life."
The word hope comes from the word elpizo. The ultimate meaning of this term means to have confidence for the future. This young lady I spoke of above had a solid, deep, unwavering hope that she spread and lavished upon her friends as she departed this world to go home to see the Savior face to face.
Yet the ole enemy hates for believers to walk in hope. He wants everyone to be gloomy, downcast, bitter, angry, biting at one another, nit-picking, fault-finding, and even in utter despair.
But, Romans 8:1 teaches us that there is "now no condemntation for those in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:1-2). The ultimate freedom has been bought, applied, and revealed to us.
Sure, that is easy to see on the pages of Scripture. It is another thing to live in that spirit of hope, that spirit of anticipation for either Christ's return or our death and reunion with him.
The stress of life often gets us down, the pressures of life drain us, and we flop. We speak to people as if we have no hope. We have no joy in our tone. We are critical, judgmental, and even downright rude to people when we live without the spirit of hope.
Hope is a form of love. By hope is how we train others. Hope is the attitude of the heart by which it communicates the glory of the cross and the ultimate victory of Christ's death to others who we meet and interact with on a daily basis. Hope is an art where when we see and recognize faults in other we focus on what is right and seek to build the person up from that point. Hope is when we look at a child who has just performed in front of others for the first time, who with many errors, missed cues, dropped lines, and blunders we compliment that child for the areas he did have right because we know the best for that child is still yet to come.
Likewise, as adults, living in the spirit of hope is when we see Christ before us each day, we see his mission before us every day, and we edify others in love as we encourage that believer or brother or sister to go forward and to keep building and to keep growing.
In contrast to hope, though is that spirit of condemntation. Paul spoke of this when he wrote of the purpose of the law. He said it was for the "ministry of condemnation," a "ministry of death" (2 Cor. 3:9,8). Yet some get stuck here and they communicate that spirit of death.
People walking all over the globe live in despair. They know death is coming. The feel it. They see it. They witness it.
Yet, if we walk in the spirit of hope, focused on the most important mission, the great commission (Matt. 28:18-20) we can communicate a message of grace, mercy, and glory where people sense the love of Christ from us. Our language will be forward looking, not downward, and condemning. We will look for ways to speak words of hope and life into souls, instead of trying to find every area flawed in that person so that we can condemn them in their sin. Thank God he does not do that with us. Have you ever thought about the despair you might feel if God wrote down every single thing that he sees wrong with you and delivered it to you? It would be overwhelming. God, however, shows us sin incrementally as we progressively grow in grace.
As Paul said, love "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Cor. 13:7). Part of living a life of love is that of living, speaking, and acting in the spirit of hope. God relates to us that way. He is never out to embarass us, publicly ridicule us, or even to toy with us. God, as the Father of the Universe, relates to us like a loving Father relates to his child. Sure, there may be times where he is stern, but those are usually after we know of the sin and continue to walk in it with a stubborn rebellious attitude. Outside of those times the Lord is slow, gracious, patient, and understanding as we take baby steps of growth. His methods inspire us and give us hope. His message is one of hope, where we know the best is yet to come.
As the famous words from our past president who inspired millions when he said, "Ask not what our country can do for you but what can you do for your country," so too today we who walk in hope ought not to be self-centered and living in despair because we are seeking those who can do for us. Instead, we ought to be seeking out others with the goal of serving them in the spirit of hope, introducing them to the greatest eternal hope ever known to man, the man Jesus Christ who heals, delivers, and blesses all who are in him. The greatest need of the hour is still Christ, not money, more wives, friends, material items, knowledge, or any other secondary matter. To be sure, nothing is wrong with any of those things just mentioned (Titus 1:15), but even with all of those items people can still die and go to hell. But, with Christ, now ahhhhh, the name is majestic, the very words bring to mind peace, hope, and a future of greatness. That is the urgent need of the hour and if that is the chief of focus of every person then they will communicate a message of hope and glory to come.
As the ole song goes, death is coming hell is moving, our brothers and sisters are sinking low, it is time that the saints to saturate the lives of others with the attitude and spirit of hope. As saints we have eternal life, heaven to come, a future kingdom to rule in, and a release from the death sentence that still looms over the horizon of all who do not know Jesus Christ.
Married, single, divorced, hurt, mistreated, misunderstood, with a church or without a church, sick, well, rich, poor, with job or without a job, there is still the great spirit of hope that can pervade our spirit. As Paul so well said: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakenedness, or danger, or sword" (Rom. 8:35). His response was a response of hope, of encouragement. He said: "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:37-39).
A life of hope, an attitude of hope, speech of hope, and a message of hope breeds an attractive group of disciples! Without, well, there is no HOPE!
Dr. Allen
Yet then the young girl, full of faith and love turned to her people in the room and told them all: "Why do you look as if you have no hope. In a few minutes I shall be healed and with the Savior. Take the love among us and go share with the world."
Her words inspired many of her friends to go forth for missions, for other work in the cause of the gospel, and to walk in a spirit of hope with great anticipation that the best is not past but still to come in the future.
I am amazed at the times that saints walk around in despair. One theologian wisely said: "Those who live in depression are often failing to see that God's providence is at work in their life."
The word hope comes from the word elpizo. The ultimate meaning of this term means to have confidence for the future. This young lady I spoke of above had a solid, deep, unwavering hope that she spread and lavished upon her friends as she departed this world to go home to see the Savior face to face.
Yet the ole enemy hates for believers to walk in hope. He wants everyone to be gloomy, downcast, bitter, angry, biting at one another, nit-picking, fault-finding, and even in utter despair.
But, Romans 8:1 teaches us that there is "now no condemntation for those in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:1-2). The ultimate freedom has been bought, applied, and revealed to us.
Sure, that is easy to see on the pages of Scripture. It is another thing to live in that spirit of hope, that spirit of anticipation for either Christ's return or our death and reunion with him.
The stress of life often gets us down, the pressures of life drain us, and we flop. We speak to people as if we have no hope. We have no joy in our tone. We are critical, judgmental, and even downright rude to people when we live without the spirit of hope.
Hope is a form of love. By hope is how we train others. Hope is the attitude of the heart by which it communicates the glory of the cross and the ultimate victory of Christ's death to others who we meet and interact with on a daily basis. Hope is an art where when we see and recognize faults in other we focus on what is right and seek to build the person up from that point. Hope is when we look at a child who has just performed in front of others for the first time, who with many errors, missed cues, dropped lines, and blunders we compliment that child for the areas he did have right because we know the best for that child is still yet to come.
Likewise, as adults, living in the spirit of hope is when we see Christ before us each day, we see his mission before us every day, and we edify others in love as we encourage that believer or brother or sister to go forward and to keep building and to keep growing.
In contrast to hope, though is that spirit of condemntation. Paul spoke of this when he wrote of the purpose of the law. He said it was for the "ministry of condemnation," a "ministry of death" (2 Cor. 3:9,8). Yet some get stuck here and they communicate that spirit of death.
People walking all over the globe live in despair. They know death is coming. The feel it. They see it. They witness it.
Yet, if we walk in the spirit of hope, focused on the most important mission, the great commission (Matt. 28:18-20) we can communicate a message of grace, mercy, and glory where people sense the love of Christ from us. Our language will be forward looking, not downward, and condemning. We will look for ways to speak words of hope and life into souls, instead of trying to find every area flawed in that person so that we can condemn them in their sin. Thank God he does not do that with us. Have you ever thought about the despair you might feel if God wrote down every single thing that he sees wrong with you and delivered it to you? It would be overwhelming. God, however, shows us sin incrementally as we progressively grow in grace.
As Paul said, love "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Cor. 13:7). Part of living a life of love is that of living, speaking, and acting in the spirit of hope. God relates to us that way. He is never out to embarass us, publicly ridicule us, or even to toy with us. God, as the Father of the Universe, relates to us like a loving Father relates to his child. Sure, there may be times where he is stern, but those are usually after we know of the sin and continue to walk in it with a stubborn rebellious attitude. Outside of those times the Lord is slow, gracious, patient, and understanding as we take baby steps of growth. His methods inspire us and give us hope. His message is one of hope, where we know the best is yet to come.
As the famous words from our past president who inspired millions when he said, "Ask not what our country can do for you but what can you do for your country," so too today we who walk in hope ought not to be self-centered and living in despair because we are seeking those who can do for us. Instead, we ought to be seeking out others with the goal of serving them in the spirit of hope, introducing them to the greatest eternal hope ever known to man, the man Jesus Christ who heals, delivers, and blesses all who are in him. The greatest need of the hour is still Christ, not money, more wives, friends, material items, knowledge, or any other secondary matter. To be sure, nothing is wrong with any of those things just mentioned (Titus 1:15), but even with all of those items people can still die and go to hell. But, with Christ, now ahhhhh, the name is majestic, the very words bring to mind peace, hope, and a future of greatness. That is the urgent need of the hour and if that is the chief of focus of every person then they will communicate a message of hope and glory to come.
As the ole song goes, death is coming hell is moving, our brothers and sisters are sinking low, it is time that the saints to saturate the lives of others with the attitude and spirit of hope. As saints we have eternal life, heaven to come, a future kingdom to rule in, and a release from the death sentence that still looms over the horizon of all who do not know Jesus Christ.
Married, single, divorced, hurt, mistreated, misunderstood, with a church or without a church, sick, well, rich, poor, with job or without a job, there is still the great spirit of hope that can pervade our spirit. As Paul so well said: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakenedness, or danger, or sword" (Rom. 8:35). His response was a response of hope, of encouragement. He said: "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:37-39).
A life of hope, an attitude of hope, speech of hope, and a message of hope breeds an attractive group of disciples! Without, well, there is no HOPE!
Dr. Allen