Hope that holds

https://odb.org/MY/2023/05/29/hope-that-holds

As believers, we hold on to the hope of glory heavenward that one day we will be at a better place even as we put our trust and hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. We hold on to the hope that He had gone ahead to prepare a place for us at His Father’s house, a house with many mansions (John 14:2-7). That is why we store our treasures in heaven because a day will come when we get to enjoy those spiritual riches.

How do we credit our bank account in heaven? By doing good works here on earth. As believers, we will be judged at the judgement seat of Christ for the good works that we have done while on earth.

70 years is the average lifespan for male humans (75 for women), and that’s a long time because it spans a lifetime and yet we know that it is like, for illustration purposes, only 12 inches of an unending rope, when compared against eternity. Our faith, therefore, needs to be enduring as Paul rightfully pointed out before in Romans 8:18 that our sufferings in the present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us. In other words, whatever we go through in our lifetime can not compare to what awaits us in heaven one day.

Yet there is hope here on earth as we have seen the LORD’s prophets speaking of restoration in the midst of destruction and ruin. Even as Israel is invaded and its people taken into exile as prisoners and slaves due to their own insolence and disobedience, the LORD promised to rescue and restore them. We could see this in Habakkuk 3, and we know historically that despite the Israelites having been scattered all over the world, they were reunited in their homeland in 1948 with the creation of the state of Israel in Canaan. The land promised to Father Abraham during ancient times, the same land to which Moses delivered the Israelites from Egypt, which Joshua eventually completed for the whole new generation born and bred in the wilderness during their 40-year sojourn.

Hold on to the hope that God has put in our hearts and has given us for fulfilment during our lifetimes here on earth. The hope of His plans and purposes for our lives. The hope of Him moulding us to be the person that He wants us to be, that will bring the best out of us to achieve great exploits for Him, for His glorious kingdom. The hope of living in the centre of His will. The hope of being that person in Him that He had planned for us even before the foundations of the world. Are we swimming in the little pond in our own backyard or in that vast open ocean far into the horizon? It doesn’t really matter as long as we are living in the hope of His glory, in the centre of His will, fulfilling His plans and purposes for our lives. As long as we are becoming the person He wants us to be! Hold on tight to that hope, the hope that holds!