Living Hope

 

    Christians are God's elect people.  We are not elect because we are more special than anyone else.  We are elect because we accepted Jesus' invitation to become Christians.  We accept the fact that we are now strangers to the world,  They do not understand us and we no longer understand the way the world functions as it does.  

    The elect are responsible for going out to do God's sanctified work led by the Holy Spirit.  We are expected to live obedient lives and spread His Word to anyone who will listen.  We are expected to leave their comfort for the benefit of other people because we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit for the living hope.

    Jesus is our living hope.  He is who we put our faith in.  We trust him to shield us in our suffering and trials.  They may be bad, but they could always be worse.  We could face them alone.  We have conviction that the trials will strengthen our faith to become more genuine.      We believe that our character will reveal God's truth to the world.  It allows us to love Jesus even though we have not seen him in person.

    The results for perseverance is praise, glory, and honor in Jesus' name.  We put in the work to glorify Him, not ourselves.  We do it because we love him.  We do it because he gave us salvation.  Suffering is horrible, but it does serve a purpose for your benefit.  That purpose just can't be predicted other than to bring you closer to God and your eternal home.  It refines us to be able to love those that hate us and live out our hope.

    Even angels long to study with intensity into the living hope.  Be mentally prepared to take action.  Live your life with self-control, but let your hope flow freely in grace and obedience to God.  Self-control will help you to not give into evil desires or ignorance.  Self-control will motivate you not to be lazy and dig deeper into the truth.

    We are called to be holy.  God glorifies us in faith and hope.  He gives us the ability to purify ourselves in truth and sincere love.  Only God's Word will withstand time.  That is why you can trust it.  The older you get the more you realize the importance of God's Word and eternal truth.

1 Peter 1