“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and our hope Christ Jesus…” (1 Timothy 1:1)
In our world today, hope often seems to be in short supply. Despite the prodigious efforts of humanism and secularism to convince us that things are getting better, we all know that there is a great deal of cause for concern. For every specific problem that our science and philosophy appears to improve, there are always unintended consequences that, in the larger scheme of things, make matters worse. We can only be optimistic if we ignore many obvious facts.
The gospel of Christ is nothing if not a message of hope. But the hope it offers is different from what most people expect. Ironically, it tells us that things are going to get better, rather than telling us that things are getting better. No Going to get better (at least in this world). by taking measures to Reason Regarding the problem – our sin – the gospel offers a hope that is unaffected by the deteriorating condition of the world.
God our savior. Any honest look at our plight tells us that we were lost. “But when the goodness and mercy of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, Not because of what we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy” (Titus 3:4,5).
Christ Jesus our hope. Look carefully at how God has saved us. Paul says it was “by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out abundantly upon us Through our Savior Jesus Christ, So that we may be justified by his grace and become heirs according to him hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:5-7) These are powerful phrases. They reflect the truth that is on every page of the New Testament: It is in Jesus Christ that God is providing protection from the condemnation that we have brought upon ourselves.
However, if Christ is our hope, we must invest Our hope in Him lies not only in our words but also in the way we live – and we should not hedge our bets by putting some of our hope in worldly sources of faith (just to be on the safe side). In fact, it is only when we give up hope that we can fix our problems that Jesus Christ is able to save us. But oh, what a Saviour! He is waiting to bless us more abundantly than we can imagine.
“Whatever we want in Christ, we will have in Christ. If we want little, we will have little. If we want much, we will get much; but if, in complete helplessness, we cast all we have on Christ, He will be God’s perfect treasure to us” (Henry Benjamin Whipple).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com AreYouaChristian.com
