A Living Hope

Strong’s Greek Lexicon defines ‘living hope’ like this: (zaō elpis) -  to live, breathe, active, blessed, living water, having vital power in itself and exerting the same upon the soul, to be in full vigor, to be fresh, strong, efficient, active, powerful, efficacious.  Expectation of good, hope in the Christian sense, joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation.

The Present Active Participle verb form (living) occurs 2,549 times in the New Testament.

There are many things which can bring us to a place of despair where we lose hope in ourselves, the world, our finances, or even the circumstances we are in.  It can even be things like losing a job, losing a relationship, losing a loved one, or even losing our health. Many more things can be sited here, these are things that we are prone to put our confidence in, things which bring us comfort, consolation or confidence, and things which can change in a moment’s notice.

1 Peter 1:3-9 (ESV)

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷ so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ⁸Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, ⁹obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Peter is encouraging us to check out where our affections truly lie, in Christ or in ourselves?  In verse 3  Peter states that we have been “…born again to a ‘living hope’ through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”   First things first.  Peter is making us take a hard look at what we are to put our hope in, not present circumstances but in the fact of the resurrection.  Peter points this out because we did nothing to earn or deserve being born again, it was by God’s ‘great mercy’ and nothing else.  He also wants us to see that God has stepped down into our world (our reality) and gave us a tremendous gift, that gift is the restoration of our place with God, an inheritance that is a fact and it does not change, get taken away, or wear out.  It is reserved with our name on it in heaven for us.

I grew up thinking that the Christian life was easy, all that was required was for me to praise God and to be a part (or member) of the Christian group that I had joined.  If my church group met on different nights during the week I would go to those meetings, youth groups or bible studies.  I believed in my mind that somehow God was happy with my attendance at these events because they were ‘Christian’ and it was what I was supposed to do, but my heart told me something completely different.  I began to realize that I was so distracted by all of the ‘Christian’ trappings that I was engaged in, that I was ignoring the ache in my heart, that ache was God telling me that He knew me but I really didn’t know Him.  I had become a ‘Human Doing’ instead of a ‘Human Being’, I was doing all of these activities for God but not spending time with Him to get to know Him and ’being’ still, God was speaking to my heart allowing this ache to grow.  I had attempted so many times to change my behavior with no tangible success; I had mistakenly thought that this was what was required of me.  Little did I realize at that time that Christ was calling me to surrender fully to Him and allow Him to make appreciable changes in me.  It was then that I began actually seeking God.  The changes came slowly but surely, and they are still coming.  I began a process of ‘being’ a man of God by surrendering to Him and seeking Him because I know that He loves me.  Here are some of the things that God has been working in me over the years:

being a listener,  hearing Him

being a seeker,  seeking Him

being a follower,  following Him

being a friend, an intimate friend of Him

being a lover,  a lover of Him

All of the above stated ‘beings’ are from Him and for Him, and these attributes are what God wanted to develop in my relationship with Him from the very beginning, I only forestalled the process.

I have also found that being or becoming a Christian is not something that you do once in your life, it is something that you become daily.  We put on Christ daily, just as we put on our clothes.  He covers us with His protection and His presence.  Just like Joseph who wore the coat of many colors which his father had made for him, this became his identity which lead to his purpose.  His coat identified him as his father’s favored son.

Galatians 3:27 (NLT)

²⁷ And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.

I would like to share something that really encouraged me recently.  “Have you ever considered that David was not God’s first choice for King?  Saul was the first one chosen. Regardless of what people say about Saul, he was sent by God to Samuel as an answer to the prayer of God’s people.  YOU also are an answer to somebody’s prayer.  David wasn’t the first choice – but he was the BEST choice.

If you are serving under someone else, “whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as TO THE LORD, and not unto men.” (Col 3:22) work as if you were working for Jesus because the Lord see’s your effort and “you shall receive the reward of your inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.”

David was a man after God’s heart and that is why he ended up in the role that Saul was originally given. He was a man after – in pursuit of – God’s heart.  Your ROLE changes but your PURPOSE doesn’t.  If your passion is God’s presence and you stay focused on fulfilling your present assignment, you will discover that what you are doing now is actually preparing you for what your NEXT ROLE is going to be.

Esther was not the Kings first choice – she ended up replacing Queen Vashti.

You may feel like you are running LAST but the last are often FIRST before the story is over.  The “first born” in the family were the ones with the Birthright and the Inheritance.  However….

Isaac was second to Ishmael.

Jacob was second to Esau.

Joseph was 11th out of 12 brothers and anything but the first choice of his brothers.

Moses was not the people’s choice for a deliverer – they drove him into a desert.

Jeremiah was not Israel’s first choice for a Prophet, but he was God’s choice.

Peter and the rest of the disciples in Galilee were not the local Rabbi’s first choice. All young men went to Hebrew school, but the disciples were either encouraged to continue with the Rabbi and be further trained or were told to “go learn the trade of your father.”  When Jesus saw Peter, James, Andrew and John they were doing like the Rabbi said – working in their fathers fishing business.

NOW the CRAZIEST of all overlooks in history….Jesus of Nazareth was overlooked by the local Rabbi as a qualified recruit for the ministry.

Stay faithful to your present call, stay passionate about His presence and stay OPEN to the providential ways that God opens doors because YOU are an answer to someone’s prayer and your gifts are a solution to someone’s problem.  Be an expert problem solver and you accelerate your positioning…it’s just a matter of time.
Remember, disappointment Is God's way of Saying “Better Is Just Ahead“ “*

We are a bit different from the people Peter was writing to in 1 Peter in that we are not under physical attack for our faith, but we are under spiritual attack.  We do have our trials to face from the choices we make or from our circumstance.  Their are opportunities that God allows in our lives and our response to those opportunities to be a listener, a seeker, a follower, a friend or a lover, …or what ever God is working into your life.

A Living Hope

Words and Music by Mark Miller

Praise to you God

Father of our Lord

For great is Your mercy toward us

Praise to you God

You’ve given us new birth

Into a living hope through your Son

In You we greatly rejoice

In You we have joy and a living hope

Copyright 1998 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing
The music above is copyrighted by the respective artists, and is demonstrated here for educational purposes only

*Portion taken from Lance Learning Article “Better is Just Ahead” Published August 6, 2013 | By Lance Wallnau

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