"Saved in hope"
Dear friends,
Greetings!
Today we share a little about being saved in hope. St. Paul writes to us in his letter to the Romans that we should have hope and that it is in this hope that we shall be saved. What is hope? Hope is a looking forward to something new, something better and this hope springs from faith, faith in the power of God. Again, why is it important to have hope? When God looks down on the earth, what does He see? "Now the earth was a formless void, and there was darkness over the deep. The Spirit of God hovered over the waters." (Genesis 1:2) Is God interested in the earth more than He is interested in His children? Not at all! We are God's greatest creation, and God is always concerned about us. God is watching over us. The Bible tells us that "The Lord looks down from Heaven at the children of Adam, to see if a single one is wise, a single one seeks God." (Psalm 14.2). When God looks down upon the earth, He sees formless voids and darkness but in the midst of this void and darkness there are some lights which shine in the darkness, and these are hearts which hold on to hope. The Spirit longs to create! The Spirit longs to bring light! The Spirit longs to give birth! The Spirit longs to breathe life!
We come back to our topic, "Saved in hope": St. Paul continues, "In hope, we already have salvation; in hope, not visibly present, or we should not be hoping—nobody goes on hoping for something which is already visible." (Romans 8:24) When God looks at us, dear brothers and sisters, of course He sees our outer human nature, our faces, our clothes, our form, but more than that, He sees our hearts: He sees great barren wastelands, He sees holes of pain, He sees festering wounds, He sees thirst, He sees frustration, He sees bruised reeds, He sees smouldering wicks.. All these images in the Bible are images of human souls, in other words pictures of the reality of human suffering. Human suffering, our own suffering is great, and God sees our hearts exactly as they are, in all the mixture of pain and agony, struggling with the enticements of sin, the wrestling with the guilt that follows, the falls into the mires of despair, the clutching wildly at the last straws of hope!
In this great struggle with darkness that we are exposed to, God sends us the Breath of the Spirit with the Good News of hope, the Good News of Jesus Christ! A Saviour has been born to us, a Son has been given to us; dominion is laid upon His shoulders (Isaiah 9:1-6)! Let us look at Him, at the One who with His merciful gaze looks at us, and asks us, "Do you want to be well again?" (John 5:6) This is Jesus, the One and only Saviour of the human race, Who as the Word of God, constantly descends to the human heart, the One who comes from Heaven, the One who was visible in the flesh for a time, and now seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty, the One who visits us and heals us when we look towards Him in hope! No one who hopes in Him will be disappointed, and in Him the peoples will put their hope." (Matthew 12:20-21)
Dear friends,
Greetings!
Today we share a little about being saved in hope. St. Paul writes to us in his letter to the Romans that we should have hope and that it is in this hope that we shall be saved. What is hope? Hope is a looking forward to something new, something better and this hope springs from faith, faith in the power of God. Again, why is it important to have hope? When God looks down on the earth, what does He see? "Now the earth was a formless void, and there was darkness over the deep. The Spirit of God hovered over the waters." (Genesis 1:2) Is God interested in the earth more than He is interested in His children? Not at all! We are God's greatest creation, and God is always concerned about us. God is watching over us. The Bible tells us that "The Lord looks down from Heaven at the children of Adam, to see if a single one is wise, a single one seeks God." (Psalm 14.2). When God looks down upon the earth, He sees formless voids and darkness but in the midst of this void and darkness there are some lights which shine in the darkness, and these are hearts which hold on to hope. The Spirit longs to create! The Spirit longs to bring light! The Spirit longs to give birth! The Spirit longs to breathe life!
We come back to our topic, "Saved in hope": St. Paul continues, "In hope, we already have salvation; in hope, not visibly present, or we should not be hoping—nobody goes on hoping for something which is already visible." (Romans 8:24) When God looks at us, dear brothers and sisters, of course He sees our outer human nature, our faces, our clothes, our form, but more than that, He sees our hearts: He sees great barren wastelands, He sees holes of pain, He sees festering wounds, He sees thirst, He sees frustration, He sees bruised reeds, He sees smouldering wicks.. All these images in the Bible are images of human souls, in other words pictures of the reality of human suffering. Human suffering, our own suffering is great, and God sees our hearts exactly as they are, in all the mixture of pain and agony, struggling with the enticements of sin, the wrestling with the guilt that follows, the falls into the mires of despair, the clutching wildly at the last straws of hope!
In this great struggle with darkness that we are exposed to, God sends us the Breath of the Spirit with the Good News of hope, the Good News of Jesus Christ! A Saviour has been born to us, a Son has been given to us; dominion is laid upon His shoulders (Isaiah 9:1-6)! Let us look at Him, at the One who with His merciful gaze looks at us, and asks us, "Do you want to be well again?" (John 5:6) This is Jesus, the One and only Saviour of the human race, Who as the Word of God, constantly descends to the human heart, the One who comes from Heaven, the One who was visible in the flesh for a time, and now seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty, the One who visits us and heals us when we look towards Him in hope! No one who hopes in Him will be disappointed, and in Him the peoples will put their hope." (Matthew 12:20-21)
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