“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:5 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He Who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Romans 15:13 “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, …” Hebrews 6:19 

Sometimes, Christians put their hope in things, or situations, or even other people  As nicely as I can put this, that’s a dumb idea!  Don’t do it. You will end up disappointed. Other people are bound to disappoint us. Let me put that another way – everybody has choices because God Himself allows us all to choose. Unless we all walk minute by minute with Jesus, then our selfish self will pop up and have its selfish way. The only place for our hope to be is IN Christ.  In what He did for us.

I want to address just one of the above verses, the one in Hebrews 6: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul …” Our soul, mind, will and emotions need an anchor. Otherwise we will be tossed and stretched by circumstances and difficulties. Our feelings can easily betray us and sometimes we can’t even figure out why or where we went off the track. We need a strong anchor! The Lord Jesus Christ is that anchor. What He did and Who He is. We must stop analysing other people’s, or even our own behaviour, and hold fast to the Saviour’s sacrifice for them and US – instead.

We need to let the Holy Spirit – Who is our resident expert about ALL things in this life – help us. He does all things well. Don’t just sit looking at your disappointments and sorrow, stick your head out of a window and look around – look at His work! The Holy Spirit will always point us back to Jesus.

What this scripture in Hebrews means is that Christ Himself is our hope, and the Holy Spirit confirms this truth to us in our hearts. HOPE IS A PERSON not a doctrine. Jesus is an historically proven Person. We do not hold fast to our POV, or someone else’s theory or doctrine – we hold fast to Christ. If He is not Who the bible says He is, we are all sunk, because we are now simply that committed to following Him. He is our sure foundation and the Saviour of this world. 

Christ is our anchor. We can’t limit or hold to ransom the awesomeness of our God by trying to appraise His answers to our prayers. Our faith has to be in the fact the Lord is doing something … at all times… even when we can’t see what it is! The Lord Jesus Himself put His own faith in His Father’s plans. Please don’t hold fast to an idea that Jesus will get you a nicer house, 10 cars and a Lear Jet! We are here in this world as messengers to speak His eternal hope to the nations. This life is not about our comfort. It is about allowing HIS incredible eternal life down here, to flow through our own little lives. The best bit is that we get to live in a taste of eternity down here! 🙌

Now – this day – we have been given His Spirit, His life flowing through us … we are carriers of His joy, His love, His hope, His goodness, into this world filled with sorrow, heartache, atrocities and despair. We are now His witnesses. Because we are being changed, now we can tell others they too can live a life of love and transformation. And all these wonderful outcomes are IN Christ. It’s all in the bible, read the book!

God’s goodness sent Jesus here at exactly the right time – so we could see a living example of His goodness and His good will toward mankind. Jesus Christ died and rose again. That is our hope.We must never forget all God’s benefits, BUT … His benefits aren’t the reason why we follow Him.. Brothers and sisters, do not stop short of the goal. Remind yourself constantly, that Jesus’ Name is above every other name and He completed His earthly mission so –  HE IS OUR HOPE – today, right now. Who HE is and what He did, is our anchor. Bless you and bye. 👋🏻