Unwavering Hope

July 24, 2016 Background Scripture: Romans 5:1 – 11 Lesson Passage: Romans 5:1 – 11 Christians live in anticipation of the day when we shall receive glorified bodies that are not corruptible or mortal. In our youthful years we can sometimes feel a sense of immortality but as we age, we become acutely aware of the deterioration of our physical bodies. Some things we cannot fix or avoid through diet and exercise. On the other hand, as we mature spiritually, we become more aware of the sin that is in our natural bodies. We come to grips with the realization that our moral struggles are not against anyone or anything outside of us but rather it is a struggle on the inside. Christians are true schizophrenics. We have a spiritual life and an earthly mortal life coexisting within us. The two are constantly at war with each other. Our spiritual person helps us to see that our natural bodies are condemned to be destroyed by God. Yet, our souls will survive because we are not utterly destroyed by God because we now have peace with God through Jesus Christ. Our faith in Jesus has made this possible. Jesus’ atoning death on Calvary’s cross and subsequent resurrection have justified us in the eyes of God. God now treats us as though we had never sinned. We sometimes say “justification means just ‘as if’ I had never sinned”. Today we struggle with the war that rages within us but we have the hope that one day the struggle will come to an end and we will live the life God created for us to live in His presence. We have this hope to make sense out of the present situation. We can rejoice in tribulations because we know that troubles will teach us to be patient and wait for an outcome that God brings about. The fact that we cannot snap our fingers and make troubles disappear causes us to either panic or learn to trust God with the outcome. The more we trust God during times of trouble the more experience we get in watching God perform miracles in our lives. This experience causes us to develop an attitude of hope. Experience teaches us to never give up on God because His track record is clear. We don’t worry about being put to shame because we put our hope in God. God enables us to overcome all obstacles and schemes that the enemy develops against us. The Spirit of Christ within us reminds us of this as we grow more and more dependent on God. This realization is made abundantly clear when we consider what Jesus did for us. When we were at our worse as people, Jesus laid down his life in our stead. Jesus died for those who were counted as enemies of God. His death reconciled us to God. And now Jesus lives to intercede in prayer for us. Since he died to reconcile us, then our salvation is made secure in Christ because he intercedes for us as our high priest. The Spirit of Christ lives in us as a guarantee that God will finish what He has begun in us. All of our hope for eternal life is based on the finished work of Jesus on Calvary. If our hope were based on our own merit or actions, then our hope would waver every time we find ourselves out of fellowship with God because of sin. Sin would constantly interrupt our hope of salvation and eventual glorification if that hope is dependent on us. Thank God that because of Jesus, we have an unwavering hope. Robert C. Hudson July 11, 2016