BELIEVE: week twenty-five: Hope

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf.” Hebrews 6:19-20

The first century symbol of Christianity was an anchor, not a cross. Pictured on the epitaphs of first, second, and third-century believers, it symbolized the hope they had in the life beyond because of Christ. If you look closely, however, you will notice a large portion of the anchor is made up of a cross. Strangely enough, while ships have changed dramatically since that time, the anchor used today has pretty much remained unchanged from ancient times.

The writer of Hebrews tells us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (13:8). Much like the anchor.

Life changes from day to day, and turmoil and tempests come with no warning, but Jesus Christ never changes. You can count on him to hold you steady no matter what the storms of life throw at your boat. He will hold you secure until the billows have calmed and the skies have cleared.

The cross has always been the anchor of hope for those who believe. When tempests in life shake your boat, put your hope in the eternal life offered through our anchor, Jesus Christ.

“I can cope with the hardships of life because of the hope I have in Jesus Christ.”

[Excerpt from Believe: 31-Day Devotional by Randy & Roxanne Frazee, pgs. 53-54.]

Hope has a color...

Today's thought:

Romans 15:13, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Yellow is not my favorite color. But now that I know the story of Vincent van Gogh, I have come to value yellow differently. This famous Dutch painter, sadly, tossed away the truth imparted him in his Christian home and sank into depression and destruction. By the grace of God, as he later began to embrace the truth again, his life took on hope, and he gave that hope color.

The best-kept secret of van Gogh's life is that the truth he was discovering is seen in the gradual increase of the presence of the color yellow in his paintings. Yellow evoked (for him) the hope and warmth of the truth of God's love. In one of his depressive periods, seen in his famous The Starry Night, one finds a yellow sun and yellow swirling stars, because van Gogh thought truth was present only in nature. Tragically, the church, which stands tall in this painting and should be the house of truth, is about the only item in the painting showing no traces of yellow. But by the time he painted The Raising of Lazarus, his life was on the mend as he began to face the truth about himself. The entire picture is (blindingly) bathed in yellow. In fact, van Gogh put his own face on Lazarus to express his own hope in the Resurrection.

Yellow tells the whole story: life can begin all over again because of the truth of God's love. Each of us, whether with actual yellows or metaphorical yellows, can begin to paint our lives with the fresh hope of a new beginning. What color is the canvas of your life today? As you embrace the grace of God in Jesus Christ and recieve His enduring hope may your canvas be dripping with with the yellows of God's love poured out for you! 

Prayer: Our Father, You paint our lives in the yellows of your love. We thank You for that yellow You give us. We live in a sunshine that colors our black-and-white lives because of Your grace and the joy of knowing our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.

A lifeline of hope...

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Today's thought:

Luke 23:35-37, "The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is God's Messiah, the Chosen One." The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.""

If you travel up I-395 through Washington, D.C., and cross over the Potomac, you will likely cross the Arland D. Williams, Jr., Memorial Bridge. Who was Arland D. Williams, Jr.?

On January 13, 1982, he gave hope to five individuals at the cost of his own life. On that cold January day, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the icy Potomac. Ice on the wings prevented the plane from a successful take-off. Almost all of the passengers perished.

Five different times, a helicopter dropped a rope to save Williams. Five times, Williams passed the rope to other passengers in worse shape than he was. When the rope was extended to Williams the sixth time, he could not take hold, and succumbed to the frigid waters.

His heroism was not rash. Aware that his own strength was fading, he deliberately handed hope to someone else over the space of several minutes.

Jesus did not make a rash decision to give his life for ours. That Jesus would be an atoning sacrifice for us was his destiny from eternity past. We need only take the lifeline handed to us by his sacrificial death on the cross. We only need to take his lifeline of hope and hold on.

Prayer: Father God, today we thank you for Jesus, who did not take the rope so that he could pass us hope. Help us to grab hold of that rope the cross gives us and hold on with both hands. In Jesus name, amen.

A living hope...

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1 Peter 1:3, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead..."

Peter says we are born into a "living hope." How is this hope different than the world's hope?

Joss Whedon, a creative and intelligent screenwriter-producer who has become famous for films like Toy Story and The Avengers, was interviewed by Entertainment Weekly. Whedon was asked if he had hope that the human race is becoming smarter and better. Whedon said:

“I think we're actually becoming stupider and more petty …. What's going on in this country, and many countries, is beyond depressing. It's terrifying. Sometimes I have to remember who I'm talking to. I'll say something about how terrible things are, and meaningless, and the world is headed toward destruction and war and apocalypse. And at one point my daughter goes, "Hey! I'm 8!” She doesn't want to hear that stuff. But I can't believe anybody thinks we're actually going to make it before we destroy the planet. I honestly think it's inevitable. I have no hope …. I want to be wrong, more than anything. I hate to say it, it's that line from The Lord of the Rings-“I give hope to men; I keep none for myself.” [James Hibberd, “Joss Whedon on killing an Avenger and why Loki's not in sequel,” Entertainment Weekly (8-27-13)]

When we look at the world it seems like a fools quest to find hope. Why hope when you live in the darkness of a hopeless world? So, the world's hope is no hope at all. The world uses the word hope to mean, “something I desire to happen.” But wanting something to happen does not make it happen. We were all children once. Life taught us all that truth. We live in a cause and effect world. Everything that happens has a cause. The problem with the world's hope is that it has no cause, it has no basis, no foundation. So hoping becomes the same as having a dream that may or may not come true or making a wish on a star. No certainty. No guarantees.

When I look at the Bible I see a completely different hope. Biblical hope, as it is in the Bible, can be defined as, “a complete trust in a guarantee of a future reward.” There are two words for hope in the Old Testament: “Yachal” which means trust, and “towcheleth” which means guarantee. The New Testament word for hope is “elpis” which means, "to expect with pleasure."

When Peter says we are born into a living hope, he's saying we have a hope that has a foundation. The foundation is the resurrected Christ. Peter says our living hope comes through, “the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” We have a living hope because we have a living Savior! Therefore, we sing, "He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives! He lives! Salvation to impart. You ask me how I know he lives? He lives with in my heart."

When Jesus rose from the dead he brought with him not only the promise of resurrection but the power of resurrection. Hope, in the world, was a dead and lifeless thing but when it heard Jesus call its name it breathed again, walked out of its tomb and began to live! That's the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and our "living hope."

Prayer: Father God, just as you caused us to be born into a living hope You caused hope to be born in us. And that hope has a name. It is Jesus. Remind us today that our hope is a living hope because our Savior is a living Lord. We hope in Him and our hope will not be disappointed. In the name of hope, Jesus, amen.