Five Minute Friday :: HOPE

A few months ago I was introduced to the blog link-up called “FMF”, Five Minute Friday.  Each Friday, the host Kate Motaung, provides a word, prompting writers to spend five minutes writing on that topic.  I find it intriguing that anyone could write something of value in five minutes, and the thought of participating had me a bit terrified.

However, I’ve noticed over the past few months that I’m not in the rhythm of writing I was in last fall.  And I miss it.  So, in an attempt to get back into a rhythm I’ve decided to join in on these weekly posts.  You will perhaps read some things that don’t make sense.  And I pray that nothing I write will be off-track theologically!  I ask for your forgiveness in advance.  This is new territory for me, but something that I think will help (and challenge) me in my writing.

I sort of laughed when I read the word for this week because it happens to be something I’ve been thinking on all week, indirectly, but I’ll get to that in my five minute post….

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“The hope of the righteous brings joy.”

I read this verse in Proverbs 10 this morning, right after finishing a week of a Bible study covering the topic of joy.  It seemed ironic, and yet it was the perfect summary of my thoughts from the week about joy.

True joy is found in nothing other than that which is eternal:  God, salvation, and God’s Word.

Circumstances change, challenges come and go, happiness is fleeting.  And if my joy is anchored in these temporal places, then my joy will change and be fleeting.

Yet, if my joy is truly anchored in Christ, then it will remain constant.

It might sound like I’m writing about joy today instead of hope.  But really the two are inseparable.

True joy is found in Christ, and according to Colossians 1:27, Christ is ‘the hope of glory’.

If my hope is anchored in Christ (Hebrews 6), the completed work that He accomplished on the cross for the salvation of my soul, then I am in Him, He is in me, I have hope, and therefore I have joy.

I love the way the book of Hebrews speaks of hope.

The author refers to it as “a better hope” (Hebrews 7)

Better hope.  

Let our hope in Christ bring everlasting joy today.  In every moment, every heartache, every struggle, every relationship.

Hope in Him and it will bring joy.