“My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and
righteousness...”
— E. Mote (1837)
There is a vast and sharp
difference between a plethora of vain hopes we place our faith in and the one
and only Living Hope: righteousness in Jesus’ name based on the blood of his
once-for-all-and-once-for-all-time sacrifice.
There is evidence of the intention
of our hope in the way of both results: vain glory and true glory. We may say
we believe and worship the Saviour, but if our living falls short in conceited
narcissism—because we are too arrogantly ignorant to notice our selfish
pride—then we defeat only ourselves. But we also denigrate the name of God in
the process. Would God even get a look-in against the conceitedness of our
pride?
When we live subject to Christ,
though, by many a manifestation of surrendered allegiance of care beyond merely
our own gain, we attest to the True Living Hope: Jesus’ blood and
righteousness.
In other words, when we believe in
the cleansing of Jesus—by Spiritual help outbound of our repentance—we are
deemed righteous by our faith.
Only by faith may we realise the
anointing of righteousness in Jesus’ name.
The False Hope
Much of life we try on the false
hope. It’s a garment of frustration; an overcoat of eventual despair. This hope
is the false design of a good future, because it trusts in a very tenuous,
poorly informed, and ultimately forlorn faith.
The false hope, needless to say
(though I’ll say it), is anything devoid of a surrender, spiritually, before Jesus;
the carrying of our crosses for the enlargement of his Kingdom.
Such a false hope, not built of
righteousness in the name and blood of Jesus, is a dead, vacuous hope. It’s a
hope that truly is not a hope at all; yet, many of us try it on, again and again.
Those who build on such a hope waste their time (Psalm 127:1).
The True Living Hope
True hope is a living hope: the
Living Hope: Jesus.
What does this mean? Everything
that begins in accord to such a thing as the Living Hope has sustainability,
prominence, relevance, true meaning and purpose. It encapsulates the great
agendas of the world: fiscal, environmental, social.
Our only living hope is to align
with every spiritual sinew in us to the Living Hope—to ensure our hope is built
on nothing less. This is a tall call. There is none taller, yet none other
acceptable.
***
There is only one hope; a living
hope; a hope for life: the Living Hope—the Person and Spirit of Jesus. By his broken
body and blood we’re healed and made whole by repentance unto salvation and
attributed to his righteousness by faith through hope in, and only in, his name.
Our hope is tested by our
obedience: to serve the one and only true, living God. Hope fuels faith toward current
and future acts of service and love. There is only one Solid Hope.
© 2013 S. J. Wickham.
2 comments:
As a young Christian I never really thought about blaming God for disappointments. When the church let me down, or when I let others down it was always just us, God had nothing to do with it. As my mind grew and I experienced more pain I started to ask why a God who could have done things different, who could even now me more open, and who could insist ona gold standard for fellowship in His name, is content to sit back and just 'Let it Be'. In all honesty this God of love is not at all like us. Even Jesus, who waited until Lazarus had died, until Mary and Martha had suffered their greatest fear, to then show up and raise Lazarus from the dead, even this Jesus is not acting like you or I would, or think we would. The Bible is clear, we are wicked, and God is good. He is the potter and we are the clay. These truths shred human sympathies like grass under a lawnmower. One can only surrender or resist, but either way the omnipotent God is glorified in all he has created.
Wonderful comment. I wondered as I read it, "Where is this going?", but there is a grand truth about the Unchanging God, here... surrender and be saved, or resist and be forever lost. Only one way, Jesus.
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