“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13
There is so much packed in this one little verse. What catches my attention is the word “hope.” Maybe because while this verse also mentions joy, peace and trust, hope is the only one mentioned twice. Or maybe because hope is something our world desperately needs right now. But I think that it caught my eye mainly because all Christians should be living a resurrection life. What do I mean by that? Well, put very simply, a life of hope. A life that knows that no matter what’s going on down here on earth, Christ has already won the victory over that! That means that we, too have the victory because we have Christ living in us.
What does the scripture mean by the word, “hope?” It’s very different than how that word is used in the world. Usually when we use the word, we mean that we would like it if something happened. We don’t know if it will, but it sure would be nice. You know, I hope the Cubs have a good season. I hope I get that raise. I hope it’s nice weather on the day of our special event. All of that is nothing more than wishful thinking that may or may not come true. The Bible isn’t talking about wishful thinking. Rather, the Greek word used here means expectation. When we say we hope in Christ, we mean that we know that we know that we know that He is the only way to God. We hope in His return. We hope in our eternity with Him in heaven. Those things are our expectations, not our wishful thinking. I love how this verse says that God is the God of hope, and that He gives us hope. He doesn’t keep all the hope to Himself. In fact, He gives us so much that we overflow with expectation!
Before we have the hope, we have joy and we have peace. Those are some pretty amazing words. Have you ever rejoiced in the midst of hard times? I don’t mean that you go into denial about the bad stuff and sing happy little ditties all day. I mean that in the midst of grief or heartache, you also have joy. They co-exist. That’s the joy that Christ offers us. He doesn’t stop there. He also gives us peace. It may be complete turmoil around us but still we can have that deep peace that just can’t be understood. It’s not understood because it doesn’t come from the world. It comes from the Holy Spirit living within us. Because of this deep joy and deep peace, we live our lives in expectation. We know that Jesus has conquered death and the grave. We know He lives within us. We know He’s cleansed us of all our sins. We know He has given us eternal life. And so we wait in expectation of what He’ll do next. And we eagerly await His work in our lives and in our world. That’s what it means to live a resurrection life! Go in hope, my friends!