Straight Thinking 0400768 the Basis of Christian Hope
Straight Thinking
0400768
THE BASIS OF CHRISTIAN HOPE
Sunday. We hope for good things, not bad. We experience Christian hope as the assured expectation of future good. It looks to the future because it becomes reality as the future becomes the present. We have assured hope because God has made the promise; we expect it because his promises are not conjectures or probabilities, but history revealed ahead of time. (Read Romans 8:24.)
Monday. The beating heart of Christian hope is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God has not entrusted that precious truth to the corruption that creeps into oral tradition. Instead, he has provided us with four written accounts of Christ’s mission and has committed to writing the guarantee of the hope we have in him. (Read Luke 1:1-4.)
Tuesday. The life and ministry of Jesus proceeded forward for over three years open and aboveboard. He taught publicly in front of the thousands who followed him. He died before the whole nation that had gathered in Jerusalem for the Passover Feast. Jews from all over the world heard the first public announcement of his resurrection and could see his empty tomb right outside the wall of the capital city. “This thing was not done in a corner.” (Read Act 26:12-26.)
Wednesday. Christian hope rests on reliable testimony of credible witnesses. The facts of Christ’s life and teachings have been set down for us by intelligent eyewitnesses and courageous men of high moral character. It is unbelievable that the highest moral code in history would have been devised by liars. (Read 2 Peter 1:16-18.)
Thursday. We believe God will fulfill the promises he’s made to us because he has always fulfilled his promises to his people before. A thousand years ahead of time, he said that the flesh of the Messiah would not see corruption. Consequently, we have hope that he will also raise us from the dead like he promised two thousand years ago. (Read Act 2:25-31.)
Friday. Christian hope arises from our firm trust in God’s ability to do what he decides. We’re amazed by his power displayed in nature around us and history before us. We’re thankful that his power combines with his love for mankind and his desire to give hope to those who have no hope. “Thanks to God for his unspeakable gift.” (Read Ephesians 3:1-21.)
Saturday. If there’s no reason to live, life isn’t worth living. Young people the world over stand with knives against their throats, “tired of living and scared of dying,” and old man river just keeps rolling along. These people will never escape the river of life on a beer bottle; they need the hope we have to give them reason to live again and try again, because “Where there’s no vision [hope], the people perish.” (Read Proverbs 29:18.)
Virgil Warren, Straight, April 7, 1968, p13 christir.org