Abounding In Hope

HopeTwelve years ago on this date, great evil was perpetrated upon our nation by Islamofascists. One year ago great evil was allowed upon our own people by our own government. One can look at the time between these two events and see great evil and strife. Much has been written about both attacks and the years between the two, and the prognosis for America is not good. Some believe there is no hope. I would agree if all remedies tried are void of Jesus Christ.

The Random House Dictionary defines hope as “the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best.” Hope is a strong tonic for despair and without hope many people are lost to evil. As a Christian my hope is Jesus Christ. The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology tells us that because of our hope in Christ and “by His resurrection the specifically Christian virtue of hope is bestowed on the regenerate, who abound in hope through the Spirit (Romans 15:13).”

It is our hope in Christ that keeps us looking up to the future because we know that the Day of the Lord is imminent. Paul encouraged the Thessalonian church on this subject:

    “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-10)

Our faith in Jesus Christ is the source of our hope. Just yesterday I had a conversation with someone who is placing his hope in the Republican Party taking control of both houses of Congress. He is one of those people who believe “thou shalt not use Republicans’ names in vain,” considering it a sin to point out the evils of the GOP. We are to concentrate only on the evil Democrats. He may be shocked to find out that on the Day of the Lord when Jesus judges all nations, that instead of separating Republicans from Democrats, our King is going to do something entirely different:

    “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.” (Matthew 25:31-33)

As you continue reading in Matthew 25 you will recall that Jesus rewarded the sheep for their faithfulness to Him and cast the goats “into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Today is a day to remember our fallen heroes who have fought and our fighting the evils of Islam. The only people who do not believe we are in a religious war is our side. The faithful of the Prophet Mohammed know and love jihad and embrace it.

We as Christians must “be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.” Christians must never live a life of despair, but one that is abounding in hope. We do so to bring glory to King Jesus.

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

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    Copyright © 2013 David Jeffers

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