Where does your hope lie?

“I hope this summer we go on vacation to Hawaii.”
“I hope he [or she] calls me!”
“I hope I get asked to the Homecoming dance!”
“I hope the money comes in so we can pay our bills.”

What do you hope? In all the above examples, the “hope” we talk about is more like “wishful thinking or wanting.” And yet, as children of God, we have a secure “hope” in Christ for our eternal life. This kind of hope is NOT wishful thinking. It is an “expectancy” of a future promise fulfilled. And, our hope is based upon Christ’s resurrection from the grave.

Have you really thought about that lately? In thinking about the hope I have in Christ for eternal life, I was reminded of the following beloved hymn.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, mount of Thy redeeming love.

Here I raise my *Ebenezer; here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger, bought me with His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.
*Eben-ezer in Hebrew means “Stone of help” as found in 1Sa 7:12 "Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far the LORD has helped us."

Praise God! Rejoice oh dour-faced Christian! However, don’t take my word for it, feast your eyes upon what God’s Word says:

Romans 5:1-9Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

1Peter 1:3-5
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Hope: Peter is fond of this word also (see I Peter 1:13, 21; 3:15), which, in classical Greek, has the general signification of expectancy, relating to evil as well as to good.

In the New Testament the word "hope" always relates to a future good.

What is our future good? “To obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you….” That, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ is a far greater hope…a satisfying hope…an everlasting hope. Fix your heart and thoughts on Christ Jesus and the hope He guarantees.

We ARE prone to wander…we ARE prone to fix our affections on the temporary, here today and gone tomorrow, things of this world.

O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.

Take my heart Lord!

Where does your hope lie?