No Subsitutes For Hope

Livin What You Know, Hope-Part 1

Years ago a small town in Maine was proposed for the site of a great hydroelectric plant. Since a dam would be built across the river, the town would be submerged. When the project was announced, the people were given many months to arrange their affairs and relocate.
During the time before the dam was built, an interesting thing happened. All improvements ceased. No painting was done. No repairs were made on the buildings, roads and sidewalks. Day by day the whole town got shabbier and shabbier. A long time before the waters came, the town looked uncared for and abandoned, even though the people had not yet moved away. One citizen complained: “Where there is no faith in the future, there is no power in the present.” That town was cursed with hopelessness because it had no future.
We need hope. God has given us hope. The apostle Peter said that the mercy of Christ has caused us to be born to “a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3). In Romans Paul says that our God is the God of hope! (Rom. 15:13)
There are many things that we accept as substitutes for hope. Wishful thinking; hope does not come from our wishes. Hope comes from God. Blind optimism is another substitute we often accept for true hope. While positive thinking is good it is not the true hope that God gives us. Another substitute is ambitious dreams. We think that if we only have big enough dreams than we can have hope. There is nothing wrong with big dream, especially when God has placed them in your heart, but it cannot replace hope.
True hope is the expectation of good…I want to tell you today there is hope! Jesus came to give you hope! Take a few moments and meditate on the following verses and ask God to fill you with His hope today and throughout this week. Especially ask Him to give you hope in the areas of your life where you feel hopeless.

“In [God’s] great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you.” 1 Peter 1:4

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” Hebrews 6:19