CONFIDENT HOPE OF SALVATION
THURSDAY 23 JUNE 2022
Confident hope of salvation is the ultimate, divine purpose concerning us, which is the assurance of sharing the glory of God. In Christ, we are not called to a hope that is unreachable or unattainable. The Scripture calls our hope, a living hope, according to 1 Peter 1:3 (NIV). It reads, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a LIVING HOPE through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." So we have a living hope, not a dead hope.
Reference: Romans 5:5 New Living Translation (NLT) "And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love."
Here is the apostle's thought: We have this hope that works by the love of God. As we continue our Christian practice, this hope is strengthened by the increasing power of God's love in us. And the hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls.
Secondly, hope is the very salt of our Christian faith and it does not lead to disappointment because it constructs our eternal confidence in the Lord. What sustains this hope in our hearts? The love of God, which has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit! According to our referenced verse, it confirms: "For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love." Without this hope, we are utterly helpless. But thanks be unto God that the Holy Spirit, the agent of love within our hearts, has been made the pledge of our future glory.
As good Christians in the course of life, we nurture the hope of meeting the Lord Jesus Christ when He returns, the hope that we are called to share in Christ's glory, the hope that we shall spend eternity with God and the hope that God is constantly at work in us on earth. We find these assurances in the Scriptures. For instance, 1 Corinthians 15:19 reads, "And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world" (NLT). And another verse says, "For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ" (Hebrews 3:14 NLT). The third verse says, "For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose" (Philippians 2:13 NLT), meaning that we have the hope of fulfilling His good purpose because His Spirit is at work in us.
Beloved, Christ's very presence in us is the hope of glory. There is "glorious riches" which has been made known to us in Christ and the very hope we have, gives us the assurance of sharing this glory. Hope is a dimension of grace which we envision as we deeply submit to Christ, and it causes us to attribute every honour in the process of maturing in faith - to God alone. This hope governs the inner realm of our mind. And as long as we are actively attuned to the influence of the Holy Spirit over our hearts, our experiences will always reflect His inner workings on the inside. Hence, the harmony of our will with the hope of our salvation remains whole. Shalom!
Scripture Reading - Psalm 33:18; Jeremiah 29:11; Romans 15:13; Hebrews 10:23.
Guided Prayer: Thank you heavenly Father for strengthening me through your Word to always place my hope in you, which does not lead to disappointment. Through the habit of paying attention to your Spirit within me, my life is made the manifestation of your glory on earth and your love is marked by my continual growth in Christ. Therefore, I'm forever grateful for my immortal hope in your sovereignty, in Jesus' Name, Amen!
