“Hope is not a fleeting emotion but a state of being.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – August 8, 2024
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. Romans 15:13, ESV
In common usage, to speak of “hope” is to speak of a relatively passive and fleeting desire. “I hope I get new shoes for my birthday.” “I hope it doesn’t rain this afternoon.” “I hope my basketball team wins the game.” These sentiments are detached and distant from the core of who we are and say very little about the kind of people our Lord longs for us to be.
Yet, in the Bible, hope is not a fleeting emotion but a state of being. As David says in Psalm 16:9, “My flesh also will rest in hope.” Colossians 1:23 speaks of a steadfast hope from which we cannot be moved or shaken. And here in today’s passage from Romans 15, Paul’s prayer is that the church in Rome would “abound in hope” in a way that transcends mere human ability and is instead empowered and animated by the living presence of God in their midst. This is the “living hope” of the resurrection in which Peter so powerfully rejoices in 1 Peter 1:3, and it is the same living hope in which you and I are invited to “abound” today!
Our ability to abound in this unshakable hope, regardless of situation or circumstance, is related to the truth of who God is and who we are in him. We are able to abound in hope because, as Paul reminds us, we serve and follow “the God of hope.” Hope is fundamental to who God is, and any ability to hope in our world is born out of the truth that God is for us and is able to secure the good and redemptive end which he has promised in and through Christ. This is the God we follow, and it is why belief in him is not simply giving mental ascent to a collection of positions but is the pathway that leads to a lived experience defined by joy and peace. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.
Prayer
Father, may we abide in your presence daily, so that the hope we know and experience is not a passing emotion or fleeting desire, but is the very foundation of our lives and the source of all joy and peace, we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Application
Take time today to meditate on this passage from Romans, asking the Lord to fill you with all joy and peace that you may abound in hope.
Related Reading
Jeremiah 29:11; Isaiah 40:31; Hebrews 10:23
Worship Resource
Brian & Jenn Johnson: Living Hope
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