“Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope....”
As I was sitting here in my“easy chair” one morning half asleep (gee imagine that), a thought flitted across my mind: “What is the basis of your hope?” Before I go any further with this thought, I want to share the definition of hope from The American Century Dictionary: “1. expectation or desire for a thing 2. Person or thing giving cause for this 3. what is hoped for, etc.” The Greek word that is normally translated as hope in the New Testament, and is true of our text, is “elpis” and it means to have great expectation or something that is certain. We usually use the word “hope” to mean something like, “Gosh, I hope so and so happens, but it might not.” The basis of our hope should be certain – not maybe. In the beginning of his letter to Timothy, Paul wrote of “Christ Jesus” as our “hope.” Jesus is the real and eternal basis for hope. I love the opening words of the old hymn, The Solid Rock: “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’name.” I’m not sure what a “sweetest frame” is, but I think it is something, or someone, in this world that we might lean on instead of Jesus. I’m not saying that there is nothing in this world to lean on. What I am saying is that the basis of our hope, and the One on whom we should trust all of life and all of eternity to is Jesus Christ. This is what Paul meant in 1 Timothy 1:1 and what I mean when I ask you what is the basis of your hope? If your hope is built on anything less than Jesus, you are leaning on a weak hope. There is no other basis of hope that has lived from “everlasting to everlasting,” gave up a home in heaven, died on the cross to save you from sin, arose the third day, ascended to the “right hand of the Father,” is making intercession for you and has promised to return to take you home to heaven. (Wow, that was a long, but meaingful, sentence.) (Following are a couple of examples of what I will refer to as "sweetest frames.") Some people put their hope in politics. Be sure that I have my political opinions and I could bore you to death for hours discussing them, but my hope is not in politics. Do not understand me to believe that politics is not important at all, and that I do not care. Understand me to believe that what happens politically is beyond my control and I will not let it run, or ruin, my life or determine my hope. I have lived long enough (from FDR to BHO) to know that politics is one of the “sweetest frames” mentioned above. Who is in control in Washington is too tenuous to be a basis for hope. I have seen the political spectrum switch from “pillar to post” in my years on this earth. We Americans are really fickle when it comes to who is to control Washington. We will try one party for eight years and then try another - ad infinitum. You can be deliriously happy that your candidate won, but the years will go by and the delirium will turn to dismay, then the other party will be in control. I just can’t put my hope in politics. I read a lot about politics and there are people on all ends of the spectrum who really and truly put their hope there, but I don’t want to be one of them. I do not want my hope to be on something that the fickleness of human beings can destroy. We will just live our lives, and be happy or grin and bear it, until the next election. Politics cannot take the place of Jesus. Some people put their hope in their bank accounts. That’s why some rich people killed themselves at the beginning of “the Great Depression” in 1929. They just could not take not being rich. Hey, I want my "fair share," so to speak, but I can’t put my hope in it. There are any number of things that can serve as the basis of your hope, but if the basis of your hope is not Jesus, you are leaning on something, or someone, that is a poor basis for hope. If Jesus is not your hope already, put your faith in Him now, and trust Him here and for all eternity. Do it! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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