I traveled again today to Ochsners Clinic in New Orleans with a family member. I cannot imagine how she must feel having to continue to make these trips. It is one treatment after another with only the hope that her life will become better. I suppose that the key word here is “hope.”
We get up in the morning with the hope that this day will be better, and sometimes it is. But then … sometimes it isn’t. Hope is a gift from God that keeps us moving forward.
Sports teams “hope” that the next season will be better than the last. Businesses “hope” that they will have a better year, students “hope” for better grades, and so on. This kind of hope is a good thing and is very necessary in the scheme of things. But there is another kind of hope that takes us to another level entirely. Titus 2:13 tells us where our ultimate hope lies. Paul writes there,
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” This kind of hope is a certainty … a sure thing for all true believers.
This should be our long term focus, our hope of heaven. But for today, our Lord has given us a more immediate goal. It is found in Phil. 1:20.
“According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.”
This is our goal for this day that God has given us. It is this kind of hope that brings honor and glory to the “author and finisher of our faith.” May we be diligent and faithful to keep it!