YOUR HOPE

If no one has ever said this to you, I now say it - from henceforth you are permitted to make mistakes.  The individual has so many performance-driven influences that demand perfection it makes the head spin just thinking about it.  

God's way is different, God's way is higher (Isaiah 55:9).

  • "His faithfulness does not depend on yours. His performance is not predicated on yours.  His love is not contingent on your own.  Trust God's hold on you more than your hold on God." (p.135)  

God chose all of humanity to have fellowship.  God's Son died and rose again for the redemption of that relationship/fellowship with all humanity.  God first loved me.  Now, I willingly place all my eggs in His basket.  I place my life in His hands (it is so much better that way).  I place all my hope in Jesus Christ, my Lord, Savior, and Friend.

Yes, I have been Saved since 1979, but total trust, total hope in Christ is a continual life lesson.  I keep re-acquiring eggs out of His basket and holding on to them - even trying to improve upon them with my own touch.  I have said I place ALL my hope in Him, but then somewhere down the road I take my hope back and redirect and/or re-proportion it.

It is wonderful that true believers in Christ can say, "Of all we don't know in life, we know this:  we hold a boarding pass.  'These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you many know that you have eternal life' (1 John 5:13)." (p.134)  However, what about the rest of the Christian life that comes after Salvation.  People and things in life come and go, but God is constant.  He is the I Am. He is my Rock.  He is my sure Foundation.  As Followers of Christ we should live and move and have our being in Christ (Acts 17:28).

If your experience with Grace is genuine and your transformation authentic, then the height from which you have fallen will spur you to do good and testify of God's goodness. Said another way,

  • "Grace creates a resolve to do good, not permission to do bad.  God's kindness stirred Joseph's holiness.  God's grace does the same in us. 'For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.  It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age' (Titus 2:11-12 NIV)." (p.137)

Is your hope in Christ?  Is your present and eternal future wrapped up, suffocated, hopefully lost in Jesus Christ?  How do you complete the following sentence, "My hope is found in nothing less than _______."

Hopefully you can complete it like this.......
4-Him..."Solid Rock"
Quotes From:  Grace, Max Lucado

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