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Troubles and troublesome people need not make you grumble and complain, though you may be strongly tempted to give in to it, and understandably so! But, grace takes you from where you are to where God wants you to be. And it involves being a disciple of the Lord, for it is in the knowledge of the truth, that you are set free, to become more and more like Him, by a change in your inner being, that is reflected in your outward behavior. The moment you stop learning is when you stop leading, it has been said, emphasizing the need for it at every stage of life, and in whatever role you may be called to function in.
It is why the words of the apostle James, can speak in your heart with divine clarity. And by plumbing, the depths of it in studying and meditating upon it, the essential truth of it can result in you combating pressured circumstances in quietness and trust, instead of taking it out on others! Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold the Judge is standing at the door [James 5:9].
Partakers of HIS divine nature:
That His nature and attitude may become yours is the promise of God in the scriptures in the words of the apostle Peter [2 Peter 1:3]. And it becomes a reality in your life when by applying it steadfastly, it becomes your very lifestyle. Peter goes on to lay down the parameters or the foundational pillars that make this inner transformation a real and present possibility. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness, and to goodness knowledge, and to knowledge self-control, and to self-control steadfastness, and to steadfastness godliness, and to godliness brotherly affection, and to brotherly affection love.
For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ [2 Peter 1:5-7]. It is seen in the progression above, that love is the ultimate add-on! And it is His love poured into your heart by the Holy Spirit that becomes your empowering wisdom and strength, that you may not grumble in irritation, even if the situation warrants it. It is seen in the apostle Paul’s powerful discourse where he describes the selfless nature of God’s love in you.
Love believes:
Love bears all things; believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things [1 Corinthians 13:7]. It is made possible as love looks for the best in a person, though he may be faulty in many ways. There is no one who is perfect, and that includes you and me. Therefore, acknowledging the truth of it, love focuses on the good in a person, even the one who could be causing heartbreak and pain in you. After all, you serve a loving God who accepted you, warts and all, just as you were, without one plea, to then begin to transform you, by His work of grace in you, to make you more and more like His Son, Lord Jesus Christ. It could take time; but it is the heart of the God who never gives up on the one, whom He created to be in His own image, to say of him, ‘How can I give you up, O Ephraim? For I am God, and not a man, The Holy One of Israel in your midst, And I will not come in wrath’ [Hosea 11:8,9]. God is not going to give up. And so, do not become weary in doing good, for in the due season, you will reap, if you do not give up [Galatians 6:9].
Faith – hope – love – the connection:
Love believes all things, it is written in the word; and it is connected to hope and faith, looking forward to the best outcome in the future, that surely there will be an end, and your expectation will not be cut off [Proverbs 18:23]. Love hopes; and because God is love, hope is also God-centered. Hope never looks back; it always looks to the future with a confident expectation, positively for the good to happen, and not negatively, as Job does, to say that the one thing that he dreaded would happen, had come to pass. For you have the hope that you will arise and shine by the grace of God, though thick darkness may cover the earth around you, as the world’s affairs only speak of things getting worse in the future. That definitely good will happen is hope’s expectation, as it believes in it.
God gives only what is good, and so hope looks for the good, remaining firmly fixed upon it, with patience and faith, running parallel like a railway track. A hope that transforms you, believing that God will certainly do it, remains steadfast, for your hope is fueled by Christ, and Christ alone. As Paul writes to the Colossians, Christ in you, is the hope of glory [Colossians 1:27].
Hope’s guarantee- CHRIST in you:
From a scriptural point of view, what could be a mystery for the world, the carnally minded, is to the child of God, no longer a mystery, but a revelation in the spirit by the Holy Spirit. And it is why Christ in you, is your hope of a certain fulfillment of it. The One who gives you your hope, is the One who fulfills your hope; and He is in you, providing an absolute guarantee to your hope, and in the process it transcends mere wishful thinking.
Love – the greatest:
Faith is what is in you at present; it is present continuous, and comes in you, to grow in you, even as you keep hearing the word of God. Hope that is in you, focuses on the future. And the greatest is love, for love is eternal. God is love; and He has loved you with an everlasting love. Even now it is the love of God poured into your heart by the Holy Spirit that is upholding you, and in the future, it is His love that is going to uphold you, that you may be able to say with confidence, ‘The Lord has delivered me; He is delivering me; and He will deliver me’. For nothing can ever separate you from His love. So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love [1 Corinthians 13:13].
Hope’s certainty – by HIS word:
Hope looks forward for the best that God will bring to pass. And in the world people may base their optimism on a feeling. But true hope is the biblical perspective of knowing with certainty that all will be well in the future. It comes by hoping in His word to then wait with confident expectation, as the psalmist does, I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, And in His word I hope [Psalm 130:5]. And it is so because – His word will certainly come to pass [Isaiah 55:11]. In fact it can be more than a certainty, as you hope in His word, or by hoping in God, My soul waits for the Lord, More than watchman waits for the morning [vs 6].
The sunrise in the morning is a physical certainty. But your hope can be even more certain for, heaven and earth may pass away, but His word will never pass away. And therefore, even what is certain from the world’s point of view can fail,even as the apostle Paul and his companions experienced an absence of sunlight for many days, in their perilous voyage in the stormy seas, but His word will arise in your life. And therefore, the psalmist’s confession can be yours, O Israel hope in the Lord, For with the Lord there is steadfast love; With Him is plentiful redemption [Psalm 130:7].
As a child of God your hope is connected to a Savior, whose word can never fail. It is why it is fool proof and infallible. And God centered hope, that never fails you is word centered. Systems of the world though are subject to change, and can never guarantee the fulfillment of the hope of the one who puts his trust in it. And they will one day or the other fail. But sin which is defined as missing the mark, need not be your portion in life for you have a Redeemer, and so your hope is connected to the One with whom there is plentiful or abundant redemption [vs 7].
Hope’s reality:
It is never in denial; for hope faces up to reality. It is not an ostrich mentality or an unreasonable optimism that is in its essence fake; Rather, it is what is seen displayed in the nature of Abraham when the promise of a son, that he had hoped for and had until then seemed to be well nigh impossible came to him. In hope he believed against hope that he should become the father of many nations,as he had been told, ‘so shall your offspring be’. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead [since he was about hundred years old] or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb [Romans 4:9,10].
Sarah too initially laughed in disbelief, for she acknowledged the reality of their condition. Hope that is truly hope accepts the reality of your situation, to believe in the God who changes your reality to see the fulfillment of your hope. Yes, you may be in debt now; it could be the present reality. But you can rest in the hope that you will one day lend to many, but borrow from none. Your children could be in a place of rebellion or frustration that is painful for you to bear with. But, all your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace, is the place of hope that you can abide in, knowing and believing that God will bring about a miraculous change in them.
And you will see with your own eyes that it is the Lord’s doing, and is truly marvelous. Indeed, troubles being temporary, and the blessing of God being permanent will then be your powerful testimony. For all that is unlovable in a person, whom you hope to change, will not remain so, in the loving hands of the God who is love! Therefore, love bears all things, is the truth of God’s word that will empower you, so that you may be sustained in your hope of a good turnaround.
Hope’s foundation:
And even as a righteous child of God, in a fallen world you could fall,driven down by the hand of the enemy. But the words of the prophet Micah can be the foundation of your hope that you will rise again, for the Lord Himself will be your light in the place of darkness [Micah 7:7-9]. He is your light, and your salvation. Therefore, He will bring you out into the light, the light of the knowledge of Christ that dispels all darkness to make you stand once more. Temporary setbacks in life could have made you weary. But you can still have hope for you are held in His loving hand. He will make you stand upon the rock.
Love flows from God:
And love always hopes, because hope is founded in God; it flows from God’s word; and therefore how can it ever fail? It is the all-powerful truth! And it is what can sustain your hope in times of trouble and pain that seem to drain your hope, even as the prophet Jeremiah systematically and rightly analyzes a dark patch in his life, meditating upon the grace of God, His steadfast love and His faithfulness, to know that he has a future and a hope, as even his honest and troubled lament leads him back to God, to hope in Him [Lamentations 3:20-23].
Hope – in the LORD:
‘The Lord is my portion’, says my soul; And therefore I will hope in Him [Lamentations 3:24]. Hope focuses on what is good, even in a person or situation in which there seems to be an absence of it, because God is good. And, The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him [vs 25]. Therefore, in prayer and faith in the faithfulness of God, you can wait in hope for God to make the change happen, for, It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord [vs 26]. He will work it out. And until then, love bears all things; and love hopes, trusting in the goodness and faithfulness of God to know that surely there is an expected end.
And as you give thanks and praise unto the Lord, for writing His word in your heart, as the anchor of your hope in your soul, may it lead you to know that you have a future and a hope, that will see you declare the goodness of God, in the land of the living. In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
