“Do You have HOPE?”


BIBLE READING: Romans 15

               What happens to people when they lose hope? They give up. They quit. Hope and perseverance go together. (Romans 5:3-4)  Hope is a future promise that keeps us going. It is the carrot before the donkey. Hope knows that there is a goal, and that goal is worth pursuing.  It doesn’t matter how difficult the path is. If we don’t have hope, we won’t have perseverance.
               Paul writes in Romans 15 that everything in the Scripture—the Old Testament—was written to instruct us in the Christian hope. Throughout the Old Testament we see God’s faithfulness, in spite of, man’s sin. We see the saints going through times of suffering and discouragement. We see the saints trudging through the wilderness, aimless with no direction.  We also see that, in time, God brings them back for greater service than before. The kingdom of God never shrinks.  It may seem to disappear for a season, but it always emerges mightier than before.
               With the encouragements of the Scripture before us (Old and New Testaments), we should have hope. Following God’s example, we should encourage one another. Paul writes in Romans 15:5–6 that we encourage one another when we live in unity, and that a fundamental expression of that unity is worship. When we stand together to sing God’s praises in psalms and hymns, we encourage one another. The man who comes to worship seemingly defeated by the world may emerge with new hope simply because of the unity of worship he has experienced.  It is God Himself who gives us encouragement. If we lack endurance and hope, we need to learn more about the attributes and intentions of God; for the more we know Him, the more encouraged we will be.

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