Acts 2:25b-26
I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.
I hope! I hope! I hope! How many times have we heard people (or ourselves) use that phrase concerning something we want very badly. As a young boy I used to say that under my breath when sides were being chosen for some type of game. I really knew that I would be at the bottom of the list, so my hope was not based upon an expectation of being selected.
I remember when I was a freshman in high school, my best friend Jerry and I made the football team. We were arguably the worse players on the team, but at least we were on the team and could travel with the rest of the team.
There was one game that has been burned vividly in my memory. Our team was playing a team from a town that was a logging town. Their players were bigger and better than our team. One by one our players were injured and had to leave the game. Jerry and I were sitting at the end of the bench saying; “I hope! I hope! I hope that we are not called by the coach to enter the game. We will be killed!” Our prayers were answered and the game ended before we were called upon.
Listen carefully! The hope that we have in Christ is a certain hope. In the Greek is the word elpis. In the spiritual sense it means to have joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation. Now I like that! It is not an empty hungering for something that is unlikely to occur. It is the confidence that we can rejoice knowing that what is coming is going to be beyond our wildest expectation
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing to others!
—Pastor Cecil