5-22-2014

 Good Morning All,

        Romans 5:5; “and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

    I hope so.  Have you ever said this?  When you said it, what did you mean or think?  There are many times when we say this phrase that it is a somewhat futile dream or even a lost cause.  I can hope that the Vikings will get to play in the Super Bowl that Minneapolis will host in a couple of years but I don’t think I’ll bet the farm on it.  We have turned the word “hope” into a wishy, squishy, milquetoasty phrase.  So why do we do this?

    One of the problems we have with the word “hope” comes from the many times our “hope” failed us.  Think of the times a child hoped to receive a pony for a birthday or Christmas present only to have those hopes dashed.  Think of the times a young lad or lass hoped for that certain someone to call or to talk to them only to be rejected and have that hope dashed.  We hope for health, we hope for a good job, a nice house, a secure future and if or when these hopes fail; we lose hope.  So we don’t trust hope because hope has let us down or so we think.

     The one thing we need to remember is that it was not “hope” that let us down, it was where we placed or hope.  Too often we place our hope in someone who is either unable or unwilling to deliver on that hope.  We place our trust in the wrong place.  A parent may want to give that child a pony but may lack the resources to pull it off.  We may trust our spouse to be with us to make a nice life together but what if they can’t?  What if they leave us alone?  Even if they promised to be there for us forever, a car accident or an illness can cancel that promise quickly.  We hope that someone will keep the promise that they make to us, but often they fail.  This failure may be completely unavoidable but it is still a failure to keep a promise so our hope is dashed.

     What we need to see is that “hope” is not a cause it is an effect.  Our hope in Jesus and the salvation which he gives to us is not the cause of our comfort rather it is the result of Jesus.  God makes a promise to you in the person of Jesus.  He makes a down payment to you in the person of the Holy Spirit which we receive at Baptism.  God promises you the forgiveness of your sins, the newness of life and the blessed assurance of life eternal with Him in the recreated world.  God makes this promise to you every day and God never breaks his promises.  We have hope because of where our hope comes from; it comes from God.

    Our hope is built upon Jesus’ blood and righteousness the hymn writer tells us.  Our hope exists because the promise of God exists and will always exist so we can place all our dreams, our hope upon the blood of Jesus.  Our hope is secured by his resurrection.  We have complete and total hope because Jesus gives us that hope.  So hope in the Lord with all the boldness and confidence that you need; he will deliver.

Lord of all hope, in You we have complete hope.  In you are all the promises of God come to fulfillment.  Give me the courage to always place my hope in You. Help me by your Spirit to trust fully in you.  Help me to have peace and rest in your arms because my hope is in you.  In your precious and wonderful name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret