New Morning Mercies #282

Corporate worship reminds you that hope is not a situation, location, idea, or thing. Hope is a person, and his name is Jesus.

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. (Titus 3:4–8)

Everyone wants it. It’s the thing that fuels what we do. It’s the thing that stimulates courage and perseverance. It’s what gets you through the tough times and keeps you from quitting. It’s hard to be happy and hard to get up and continue when you don’t have any of it. What is it? Hope, of course. Everyone craves hope.

Now, the radical message of the Bible, captured well by the Titus passage, is that sturdy hope, hope that won’t ever fail you or leave you embarrassed, is only found vertically. The horizontal situations, locations, experiences, and relationships of everyday life are dangerous places to look for hope. Why? They all fail you. First, everywhere you could look horizontally has been affected by the fall in some way. There are simply no perfectly ideal situations, no paradise locations, no completely satisfying experiences, and surely no perfect people this side of eternity. Add to this the fact that all these things are fleeting. None of them lasts. Every horizontal thing, this side of eternity, is in the process of decay. So hope that addresses your deepest needs, that gives you reason to continue no matter how hard life is, and that promises you eternal good is only ever found vertically.

Perhaps it’s not enough to say that hope is found in God and his covenant promises. That surely is true, but more needs to be said. Hope really does rest on the shoulders of the One who is the fulfillment of all those covenant promises. It’s not enough to say that reliable hope is hope in Jesus. The message of the Bible is more powerful and pointed than even that. Reliable hope is Jesus! In his life, death, and resurrection, your life is infused with hope. The grace of the cross is not just grace that forgives and accepts, but grace that also supplies you with everything you need until you are needy no more. And what does this hope produce, according to the Titus passage? It produces a brand-new way of living. Because the One who is hope has infused my life with hope, I do not have to search for hope any longer and can now give myself to a life of good works. Do you know this hope? If not, a good first step toward finding it would be to gather with other believers this Lord’s Day to worship the One who is your hope. To find hope, find Him.

For further study and encouragement: Romans 5:1–11