Devotions

Hopeful and Happy

I like happy people – I always have. I’ve always tried to be a happy person – an eternal optimist if you will. Optimistic people have a way of pumping me up. I admire that attitude. I was visiting one of our students at the University of Cincinnati one day and there was a kid who had a tee shirt on that said – “studying to be a doctor”. But the cool thing was on his bicycle he had a sign that said “studying to be a Mercedes.” I like that but unfortunately I know a lot of people who have concluded that if they expect the worst then they will never be disappointed. I wish that everyone I knew could be hopeful and happy – hopeful and happy – but if we can’t be both then I choose hopeful. Happiness and an optimistic outlook are not the same thing as Hope.

Optimists think they can or that others will. Hope knows that God can and God will.

One of my favorite scriptures that helped me through my teen age years was the words of the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 40:31 – Those who Hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will mount up with wings as eagles. They will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.

To the person who doesn’t know Jesus hope is nothing more than blowing out candles on a cake or making a wish. You know what I mean? I hope I get a raise -I hope it doesn’t rain. I hope I win the lottery. I hope the Hoosiers beat Purdue as do all good Christians. But that’s not the hope we are talking about. Hope in Jesus is not a maybe. Hope in Jesus is not a likelihood. Hope in Jesus is not just a possibility. It’s a rock solid truth that we can build our lives on now, and stake our futures on for certain. It’s tangible, it’s real, it’s literal, it’s fact, it’s essential, and it’s a gift from Almighty God. Ask yourself – hasn’t God proven He’s willing to do what it takes to save you? Hasn’t he always been faithful? The Bible reminds us of what we already know because we’ve lived it….

Only when we let Him in – can He pull us out. “That’s my hope, and it makes me happy.”