In (Romans 12:12) Apostle Paul has given a brief summary of what the Christian walk is all about. It’s important for us to realize that Christ’s death and resurrection possess two critical aspects. The first aspect deals with the current life we have, and the second one has to do with the next life that we’ll inherit from Him when we finally make it to the other side.
The present aspect demands faith in the person of Christ based on His finished work on the cross, and the next aspect is to hold a firm certainty of hope founded on the promises that God has made us through His Word that one day the gift of salvation that we’ve received the moment we’ve chosen to believe in Christ will surely become a reality. How marvelous it will be when we finally get to see Him face to face just as He is.
Before we go in depth into this powerful teaching, let’s consider the fundamentals that constitute the Christian life. First, faith is the starting point of our Christian life which then leads to obedience, hope, patience, and perseverance. Faith is exercised presently in the sense of believing someone on the ground of a promise made by that person in relation to something that has already been accomplished by that person at one point in order to sustain that promise. In the context of our faith in God, the blessings hidden in the finished work of Christ remain as powerful and effective as they have always been since Jesus gave His life for us.
The Christian Life is Marked By Challenges And Difficulties.
The promises found in the Word of God are very rich, trustworthy, and encouraging; however, God has never guaranteed us that things would just go well for us in every case. Becoming a Christian means entering a fierce battlefield. There are so many things that we’re going to have to fight and stand against. Trial, distress, suffering, sorrow, disappointment, and hurt are inevitable. And we have a very powerful, deceptive, and destructive enemy that we have to wrestle against on a constant basis. But what truly makes our joy is that we’re serving a God who’s infinitely more powerful than the enemy.
Although our lives are centered upon the person of Christ but that alone doesn’t eliminate the responsibility that we have to seek God’s face. Salvation which is the doorway to all types of blessings from God is received the moment someone has accepted Christ as Savior and Lord, then there’s a well known process called sanctification that starts from salvation to eternity that person must go through.
We Must Have A Firm Certainty of Hope in God.
Let’s ponder on this following verse which deals with our lifestyle post-salvation. The truth is that how we live after being saved is nothing more than a precise demonstration of the kind of hope we have as God’s children.
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer (Romans 12:12).
If it turns out that an individual doesn’t have any type of hope in anything, it’s a true indication that person isn’t moving toward anything of great significance. By the way, such person just doesn’t have something that can urge him/her to persevere toward a specific end. Without hope your life is pretty much meaningless. That bold statement also explains the reason why so many are committing suicide.
Well, after being saved, God is expecting all of us to look forward with great anticipation, patience, along with hope the coming of the Lord since these are the key issues that will motivate us to persevere no matter how difficult things may get down the road. We have an eternal goal set before us, so we have to strive toward it.
The good news is our hope isn’t placed into the things of this world and this life, so the issues of this life must not keep us from embracing firmly that unshakable hope we have in God. Our hope in God strengthens us to endure and go through affliction patiently and obediently.
That Hope is Worth Relying Upon.
Why? Our hope in God goes exceedingly beyond the very issues that we’re struggling with. Our hope in God is eternal while the issues of life are temporary. With a mindset based on God’s promises, when we’re hit by a great crisis, we’ll realize right away that’s just not the end of it. Furthermore, our hope also causes us to become farsighted because our very eyes are kept on the all-powerful God.
The hope we do have as believer in Christ is completely different from the human hope. Because one thing that marks the human hope is uncertainty. When you say that you hope something happens or to come to pass as expected, you’re not that certain that it will actually come to pass. Basically, it is you trying to express what you’d like to happen.
Nevertheless, the hope that we have in God is to have a firm certainty of hope. In other words, something we believe with all our might that will eventually become a reality. This type of hope truly helps us to make sure that we keep our lives well organized for the coming of the Lord because we’re expecting something that can take place at any moment. In other words, something we just don’t want to take us by surprise. Lastly, that hope compels us to move closer to the One who is the object of our hope, and the One who is capable of sustaining us all throughout that journey.