Where is your hope?

Today's verse is Philippians 1:6, He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ

I saw a sign in a hotel once that said, "Please be patient. Renovation in progress to produce something new and wonderful." Maybe we should all wear a sign like that! We're all unfinished projects under construction, being made, or remade, into something spectacular. When we keep this in mind, it's easier to be more patient with ourselves and others.

Hope is the anticipation of good. Like the hotel lobby during renovation, our hope is often greater during life's trials. What is the basis for our hope?

For a Christian, hope is not the denial of reality. The reason for our hope is Jesus Christ, the rock of our faith. It's like the old hymn that says, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness." We are never without hope for our lives if we know Jesus.

The focus of our hope is to be like Jesus. That goal may seem to great and way beyond our ability to grasp, and it is. How do we reach that goal?

The Bible tells us it is "Christ in you" that is in our hope (Colosians 1:27). The ability to become more Christlike is a goal that's larger than life. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, to have hope only for this life is to be miserable (1 Corinthians 15:19). The true Christian hope is for this life and for eternity.

There's a church in Scotland with a sign on it that says, "Come as you are, but don't leave as you came." When we come to Jesus, we can come as we are. But He will not leave us the same. That is our hope.

Do you have the hope of Jesus today?

Be blessed and go out into the world and tell someone of your hope.

In Him,

Pastor Mike