Lent Day 6
What is Hope from God?
We tend to think of hope as something we wish for, something we desire to come true. But Hope from God is different. When we say we have Hope in God, in Christ’s salvation, In God’s word ….it means we have a confident expectation, a trust in what is promised to us will indeed occur. We believe and trust that Christ lived a life worthy to atone for our sins, He obediently died on a cross to justify our sins and was resurrected to the right hand of God to offer us salvation. When we have a confident expectation in this, it changes the focus of our lives.
(1) It changes how we see our lives. We begin to understand our real home is with God. Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20). We are physically here on earth among the world but we belong to God’s kingdom, meaning our interests change to be that of God’s, not earthly desires. So the way we live our lives begin to change in a way that honors God. We realize more so we are here temporarily and choose to live our life in a way that honors the kingdom, our permanent home. (Colossians 3:1)
(2) It changes what we value. What we value controls us, our thoughts, decisions, our actions. As we grow in Christ, our values change to His values and we begin to have thoughts, decisions and actions that reflect His and store up treasures of heaven rather than temporal earthly ones. (Matthew 6:19-21)
(3) It affects what we do with our lives—our talents, time, treasures. Once we understand we are living a life for God rather than earthly desires, our values become those of Him. We then begin to develop our talents, share our time and choose our treasures in a different way then we did before. Our focus changes to God, our priorities shift to lead a life in pursuit of all that God wants of us and from us.
Has your life changed to reflect the hope that you have? Can you see evidence in your daily thoughts, decisions and actions that prove a confident expectation in the hope of God?
Grace and Peace,
LeAnn
We tend to think of hope as something we wish for, something we desire to come true. But Hope from God is different. When we say we have Hope in God, in Christ’s salvation, In God’s word ….it means we have a confident expectation, a trust in what is promised to us will indeed occur. We believe and trust that Christ lived a life worthy to atone for our sins, He obediently died on a cross to justify our sins and was resurrected to the right hand of God to offer us salvation. When we have a confident expectation in this, it changes the focus of our lives.
(1) It changes how we see our lives. We begin to understand our real home is with God. Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20). We are physically here on earth among the world but we belong to God’s kingdom, meaning our interests change to be that of God’s, not earthly desires. So the way we live our lives begin to change in a way that honors God. We realize more so we are here temporarily and choose to live our life in a way that honors the kingdom, our permanent home. (Colossians 3:1)
(2) It changes what we value. What we value controls us, our thoughts, decisions, our actions. As we grow in Christ, our values change to His values and we begin to have thoughts, decisions and actions that reflect His and store up treasures of heaven rather than temporal earthly ones. (Matthew 6:19-21)
(3) It affects what we do with our lives—our talents, time, treasures. Once we understand we are living a life for God rather than earthly desires, our values become those of Him. We then begin to develop our talents, share our time and choose our treasures in a different way then we did before. Our focus changes to God, our priorities shift to lead a life in pursuit of all that God wants of us and from us.
Has your life changed to reflect the hope that you have? Can you see evidence in your daily thoughts, decisions and actions that prove a confident expectation in the hope of God?
Grace and Peace,
LeAnn
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