AP

Romans 15:13  May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.  

Paul shows us here an interesting relationship between joy, peace and hope.  Our hope in Christ is the certainty that we are God’s chosen people, redeemed and established firmly in him by the work of his grace in us; it is the assurance that we now have eternal life through his death and resurrection; it is what enables us to present a positive outlook to a confused, pessimistic world, an optimistic demeanour of someone waiting with expectant certainty concerning God’s promises and his proven faithfulness, not only through our words but through the way we behave and interact with any challenging trials we might face, and the way we interact with each other.

Today, if someone says, “I hope everything turns out all right for you.” they usually have no real confidence that their wishful thinking will be effective, but keeping their ‘fingers crossed’ and ‘touching wood’ might somehow help!  Our God is ‘the God of hope’.  He is a God who always keeps his promises, and he wants us all to share the Apostle Paul’s certainty, to “know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

But, interestingly, the Holy Spirit doesn’t fill us with ‘hope’.  Instead, he fills us with joy and peace!  Joy and peace are the ingredients – hope is the product.  How do we come by these ingredients? By trusting in him.  It is a simple equation: I trust in God ›› he fills me with joy and peace ›› this causes hope to spill out from me into the lives of others.  They are impacted positively by the difference joy and peace are making in my life.

May this be our constant prayer for one another in these challenging days: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing [trusting God], so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”  ‘Hope’ is contagious, and is the very thing our world (especially young people) need more than anything else today, when so many things about the future they face seem ‘hope-less’!  And let’s wait expectantly (hope) to see our combined little bits of influence making a difference.  It can happen and, by God’s grace, it will.

– Bruce Christian