Advent: Hope

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the commandments of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus, who is our hope.1 Timothy 1:1

Christ is our Hope! As the season of Advent draws closer to Christmas, how much I’m reminded that because my hope is in Christ there are clear implications to my life. There is a clear response for Christians when we consider the coming, birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. Hope, which is faithfulness and gratitude.
When we put our hope in Christ, it raises us up beyond the conditions and circumstances that might weaken most people.

A moment in my families’ life was when our second daughter was about to be born. Breanne Marie was due in later June and that spring of 2013 Dawn, Grace and I were also getting ready to move into our current home in early June. What a fun and stress-free time that was… In hope that we could move into the house before Breanne came, I remember how much we felt a sense of urgency as we made preparations for the coming baby.

While putting our hope in Christ is spiritual wellness for the believer, that’s not the primary purpose of why we are to have hope. We have hope in Christ because it brings glory to God. When someone trusts you, they’re saying you are trustworthy. This is an honor. The same is true when we put our hope in Christ and His future promise. Having hope in Christ brings God glory!

As those in the Old Testament hoped in the coming of the Messiah, we are to hope in the second coming of Christ and the fulfillment of salvation. Hopefully the response is to make the spiritual preparations in our daily lives. Live faithfully. Live with a grateful heart. Why? Because Christ is our hope, and HE IS COMING!