HOPE

Hope is a wonderfully glorious thing.  I heard someone say a few weeks ago that much is lost when hope is gone.  I would have to agree with Him.  Hebrews 11 says that faith is the assurance of things HOPED for.

What do you hope for?  I find myself to be hoping for a lot of silly things all of the time.  Mostly though, I find myself hoping just to be able to get through the day.  I wonder why this is.  I think that it has much to do with being nearsighted.  I focus on the things of this world way to much and not on that which is to come farther down the road of life and eternity.  I look at my circumstances way more than how God would want me to be in those circumstances.  We are called to walk by faith and when I get caught up in how THINGS are instead of how I am, I am not walking by faith.  The way that I live is a direct reflection of that which I am hoping for.  

If all I want is my circumstances to change then that is what I am going to be focusing my time andy energy on because that is what I think is going to be bringing me peace, joy, happiness, contentment, and all of those kinds of things that we really want in life.  The Apostle Paul had something interesting to say about that.  He said that he had learned to be content in all circumstances because he had found Christ to be his strength.  

If I spend all of my time and energy worrying and fretting over things that more than likely I can't change and even if I do somehow get them to change I won't be joyful, happy, or content because I'll still be the same, and I'll continue to be miserable.  Here's what I am finding.  When my faith is in trying to change my circumstances to bring some joy back into my life it's not going to happen and I am also not hoping for very much.  When I find myself hoping for the things that the Bible speaks about me having in this life I find myself placing my faith in the One who can deliver that which I am hoping for.  Those things come to me when I am living in a relationship with Him and letting Him do the the things that only He can do and trying to change everything around me all of the time.

God is a rewarder of those who put their faith in Him, and so I ask you, "What are you hoping for and what have you placed your faith in in order to receive that which you are hoping for?"

Side-note: I'm not saying we don't have any responsibility regarding the circumstances of our life, but I am saying that I we are looking to them for the joy, peace, and fulfillment that only God can give us, then our hope and our faith is misguided and whether our circumstances change or not we will be miserable.