Our Hope (Romans 15:4)
I have a friend who is a devout follower of Jesus and a committed disciple-maker. A neighbor of hers recently asked about the terrible state of the world and what could be done? The recent upheaval in Israel was troubling her and caused her to reach out to my friend for advice. With no background as a Jesus follower and no foundation in the Scripture this woman has no hope. In fact the world situation looks entirely hopeless to her. In desperation she is seeking answers from a disciple of Jesus.
In Romans 15:4 we discover that one of the reasons we have the Scriptures is to give us hope. When Paul wrote this he was referring to the Scriptures available to the Jewish people at that time.
He reminded them of the role the ancient writings played in teaching them about God and his plan for the world. From the Scriptures they had available they also learned about how their ancestors managed difficulties and challenges. Then this verse talks about the encouragement they got from the Scriptures, to instill hope in them.
We can all resonate with what Paul is saying about the role of Scripture. In our day we have an even clearer picture of what the future is. We live in history after the hope of the world came, died and rose again.
The teaching from Scripture, the stories of faithful endurance, and the encouragement we receive at just the right times from God's word; provide us with hope.
Biblical hope is probably not well understood because common usage in society suggests that hope is a wish. Like a child may say: "I hope we go to the beach on the weekend." But Biblical hope is based on the faithfulness of God, Biblical hope has full confidence that He will do everything He has said He will do. Biblical hope knows that we are cooperating with God in preparing this world for his Kingdom which will come and be established here on earth. This kind of hope is only learned / experienced / realized through knowing the teachings of Scripture, overcoming the trials of life, and being recipients of the encouragement that comes from Scripture.
The lady who visited my friend is without hope. She is concerned about all the trouble in the world and she is helpless to do anything. Fortunately, she reached out to my friend who is full of hope.
I trust you are filled with hope today. We have no reasons to be fearful or in despair. Our hope comes from knowing the source of all hope. We have the privilege of being living examples of the only hope there is for all of the trouble around us. Let's look for every opportunity to be part of the process (called discipleship) to lead others in knowing the source of all hope.