Thoughts From The Pulpit: In my life — and I think it is the intended biblical pattern — hope is supposed to be like a reservoir behind the dam of your life. A reservoir of emotional strength. If I am put down, I dip into the emotional reservoir of hope for the strength to return good for evil. Without hope, I have no power to absorb the wrong and walk in love, and I sink into self-pity or self-justification. If I experience a setback in my planning — I get sick, or things don’t go the way I’d hoped in the board meeting, for example — I look to the emotional reservoir of hope for the strength to keep going and not give up. If I face a temptation to be dishonest, to steal, to lie, or to lust, I look to the emotional reservoir of hope for the strength to hold fast to the way of righteousness, and deny myself some brief, unsatisfying pleasure. That is the way it works for me. That is the way I fight for holiness in the Christian life. And I believe this is the biblical way to make our calling and election sure. My prayer is that as you focus your attention on your Christian hope, God will fill your reservoir to overflowing, and that deep down in the Hoover Dam of your soul the great hydro-electric generators of joy and love and boldness and endurance will churn with new power for the glory of God. // Lindell Cooley, What Is Hope? October 10, 2014 #whatishope #sermon #quote #Jesus #hope #Christian
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 21:26:05 +0000
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