Noun: a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen

Verb: want something to happen or be the case

Neither of these definitions hold true with heavenly hope. Earthly hope is a feeling that we desire; heavenly hope is a longing for a guaranteed future. We know the end of this story, we’ve read the final act. Jesus returns, conquers death (for the final time) and we worship Him forever.

He died for you individually just as much as if you had been the only man in the world.

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity 129

It seems as if every sermon I’ve heard lately has tied back to the hope that we have in Christ. I suppose that it is simply part of the gospel message, but lately it has stood out to me how necessary it is to understand how this hope comes from Christ alone. Unlike the slim possibility of something wonderful, heavenly hope is so much more.

Christ proves to us again and again that he has our best intentions in store. He never fails us and never leaves. It is to Him that we are able to give our all as we realize our incompetence in light of His glorious perfection. As “the very least of all the saints” as Paul called himself in Ephesians (3:8), we were given grace upon grace to bring to light “the manifold wisdom of God” (3:10). Christ has a glorious purpose for us here on this Earth. The pain of this world is temporary in the light of eternity; it is all for God’s glory.

In light of this guaranteed hope we are to have joy (as seen in 1 Peter 4). We are called to live in the now because of the end. “The end of all things is near” Peter cries out (4:7). We should be living prepared, building up treasures for heaven, and urgently sharing our faith with the broken and dying world around us. Christian joy isn’t the absence of distress, but the presence of hope in Christ. We are sanctified through our Earthly trials.

Forget about the self all together … until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self.

175

We have been freed from our deserved damnation, but also called to action. We should be living focused on why we are here. We have been bought by the blood that has the power to conquer death. Let us love one another from a pure heart overflowing from the blood that saved us. Let us live set apart from the bleakness of this hopeless world. Let us live in the hope that we can only have through Christ. 

It is the change from being confident about our own efforts to the state in which we despair of doing anything for ourselves and leave it all to God.

114

My word for the year in 2021 has been the phrase “in Christ alone”. I constantly need to be reminded that he is the sole reason for my ability to do anything here on this Earth. I am fully leaning into Him to support me as I walk alone as Pilgrim did on this broken Earth with Him as my guide.

I urge you friends if you have not experienced this companionship as I have to fall to your knees and admit your need for Christ. Lewis talks in Mere Christianity about how all desires are natural and able to be met. Us as humans have this desire for a perfect relationship. We attempt to fulfill that desire with broken human relationships and again and again are disappointed and hurt when they don’t withstand the reality of this world. Amazingly, there is one relationship that will never disappoint. A relationship with Christ is one where you can go all in with complete transparency since he knows your all and yet loves you as His own. It truly is in Christ alone that we can stand. We are citizens of a heavenly kingdom and heirs to the throne. Let us live holy lives and yearn for the day that is near.