Unrest is world-wide. This 'covid business' just adds to it. That there is unrest is nothing new--we might say it began when in the fall of Adam and Eve. Christians yearn for the rest to come.

Those who hold to the most holy faith have an answer to the anxieties of our present age. The answer is Jesus Christ through His "resurrection from the dead" by Whom we are begotten to "a living hope". (I Peter 1:3). Jesus by His Word and Spirit establishes His disciples in hope that does not disappoint (Romans 5:5).

Believers have been gifted with a living hope. A hope that is secure not merely for a season of time but from now to eternity. We look beyond this season of stress and struggle. We rejoice to be anchored in what God has done through His only begotten Son to solidly root us in the confidence that our times are in our heavenly Father's Hand (Psalm 31:15).

The dictionary defines hope as a verb: to desire with expectation of obtainment; to expect with confidence. Alongside the word hope we think of words like trust, expectation, longing, dream, optimism, and desire. The opposite of hope is despair. So many live with and in despair--but not those who fix their eyes on Jesus the author, perfecter and finisher of our faith (cf. Hebrews 12:1&2).

The object of our living hope is described in I Peter 1:4 as “an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away reserved in heaven". As one commentator put it God's people "have an inheritance that will never be touched by death, stained by evil, or faded with time; it is death-proof, sin-proof, and age-proof. This inheritance is also fail-proof because God guards and preserves it in heaven for us. It is wholly secure. Absolutely nothing can undermine the certainty of our future inheritance."

The Bible is filled with many references to hope; we cannot possibly exhaust them in a short meditation nor even in countless pages. Our hope lives on, it is not a hope so hope but a know so hope. Jesus alone is hope for the hopeless. Praise God!

Faith calls us to action in our believing and in our doing. We can not be passive. When we live according to Biblical hope we live with the hope of glory to come. It is precisely our hope that compels us to live out of our hope as we give witness to our calling in this world in preparation for the next.

The hope that we hold dear does not make life smooth sailing. This world is no friend to grace and this world remains often a vale of tears. Joni Eareckson Tada who has suffered much once remarked “The best we can hope for in this life is a knothole peek at the shining realities ahead. Yet a glimpse is enough. It’s enough to convince our hearts that whatever sufferings and sorrows currently assail us aren’t worthy of comparison to that which waits over the horizon.”

The Word of God promises those who "hope in the Lord will renew their strength.” (Isaiah 40:31) When you are feeling the weakness of your body and spirit, remember God's promises by grace and through faith. Remember the beautiful word which has been given us in the revelation of Jesus Christ by which we might know the glory of the mystery which in turn is the hope of glory (cf. Colossians 1:26-27).

Charles Spurgeon reminds us “Let this one great, gracious, glorious fact lie in your spirit until it permeates all your thoughts and makes you rejoice even though you are without strength. Rejoice that the Lord Jesus has become your strength and your song – He has become your salvation." And so in conclusion let us stand with Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”