Romans 15:13 – Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (NKJV)

God has prepared for us things beyond our imagining. Our hope is for a renewed world and for fullness of life in the age to come. As Jesus taught us, we pray: "Thy kingdom come." – Living Faith 10.1) Charlie Brown is always having rough days in his young life — that's what makes the whole Peanuts comic strip work. Take, for example, this exchange with Lucy:

"Look at it this way, Charlie Brown," she consoles. "These are your bitter days. These are the days of your hardship and struggle, but if you just hold your head up high and keep on fighting, you'll triumph!"

"Do you really think so, Lucy?" Charlie asks hopefully.

As she walks away, Lucy says, "Frankly, no!"

Hope means more than just hanging on. It is the conscious decision to see the world in a different way than most others see it. To hope is to look through the eyes of faith to a future not determined by the oppressive circumstances of the present. To hope is to know that the present reality will not have the last word. It is to know, despite the pretentions and cruelties of idolatrous authorities, that God rules. It is God who will have the last word. We need more than resistance; we need hope and a positive vision of where we are going. We begin to live out new possibilities in our daily living. – Living in hope, Jim Wallis in Sojourners magazine I want us to see that God has a purpose and a plan for us that take us into God's future. Hope ties us to the future. Peruvian theologian, Gustavo Gutiérrez, writes, "To hope does not mean to know the future, but rather to be open, in an attitude of spiritual childhood, to accepting it as a gift."

Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. (NKJV)

Where others are hopeless, let us see hope in Christ!

Prayer: Lord, our hope is founded and grounded and growing in Jesus Christ. Thanks be to You, our God. Amen.