Hope Part Two (6) Our Hope is Not For Earthly Things, But Eternal

1 Corinthians 13:13 "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; 

but the greatest of these is love."

Hope is a very interesting thing, you know. I know that in doing this series on hope I have been blessed to have a bit more; but I also know that I'm hardly scratching the surface. God is a God of hope, and hope goes deep. 

I want to bring the previous five posts all into this one, if I can. If we look at the previous posts, we can see clearly that we hope for eternal things, not earthly things. 

Many people in the world hope for earthly things. And really, Christians do, too. We hope for financial peace; safety and health for family and friends; perhaps fickle things like hoping for a better car or a bigger house, winning the lottery, finding Mr./Mrs. Perfect (on the outside, at least)...the list goes on forever. We hope for things to go the way we want them to go. We hope that we can do what we want to do. 

But is that where it ends? Is hope limited to these earthly things? 

No! There is eternal hope! Real hope is as deep and wide and unimaginable as real love. The world gets it wrong on so many levels. 

Christians have the source for knowing a glimpse of true hope: Scripture. 

Scripture shows us what we ought to really hope for. 

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 - "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."

I know for a fact that our outer self is wasting away. 

I'm twenty years old, and already my knees kill me, my ankles are weak, my back hurts a lot of the time, my shoulders are in pain constantly, my neck is sore, my jaw is out of place, my toes are swollen and puffed up from the cold, my fingernails crack and split right where it hurts the most, my hair falls out, my eyes are bad, my ears are stuffed, I have a cavity, my nose is runny, my hips are aching, and the list could go on and on. 

I remember that just ten years ago I could do just about anything; I could take hard knocks, fall down, and bounce back up again. Nowadays it's more difficult. I'm looking forward to the NEXT ten years...

All this to say, the outward is wasting away. BUT, it doesn't end there!

The inner self is being renewed day by day! These afflictions that plague me are light and momentary. Beyond that, there is an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison! What hope this fills me with! 

I can suffer pain in this life and know for a fact that it will not always be so. How can I know it for a fact? 

John 6:47 - "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life."

John 10:28 - "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand."

Jesus - our God, our Saviour, our Lord, our Hope - has promised it. What He has promised will come to pass. Jesus' promises are never a "Maybe..."; they are always, ALWAYS a "will". It's for sure. 

John 17:3 - "And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." 

Jesus has the right to make these promises, and the right to be sure about them, because of his sacrifice: 

Hebrews 9:12 - "...he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption."

1 John 2:25 - "And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life." 

1 John 5:11 - "And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son."

Life is in God's Son. My life is in You, Lord...as long as my life is in Him, it is eternally kept. What an amazing promise; what a ground for hope. 

1 Peter 5:10 - "And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you."

We will suffer. We do go through a light momentary affliction - it may seem like a long time of suffering, the pain might seem intense and unbearable, but it is nothing - NOTHING - in light of the incomparable weight of glory awaiting us in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Does it make you praise God in awe when you read that He WILL Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you? Does it not make you wonder at His grace? His promise is sure! And what a promise it is. 

Jude 1:21 - "keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life."

Our hope lies in eternal things. Earthly things can't save us; they have made no promises, and even if they did, they wouldn't be rock-sure. 

Jesus' promises are rock-sure. What He has promised, that you may look forward to with all hope and comfort. 

What is the response to such eternal hope?

2 Thessalonians 2:16 - "Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word."