Advent Words Day 2 ~ Hope

 

Day 2: Hope

“We wait in hope for the Lord;

    he is our help and our shield.

In him our hearts rejoice,

    for we trust in his holy name.

May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,

    even as we put our hope in you.”  Psalm 33:20-22

"For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ." Titus 2:11-13

 

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter 1:3-5

 

The theme of the first week of Advent is hope. Author, Bobby Gross, says the four weeks of Advent, “train us in hopeful waiting”. We read passages in the Old Testament of how the Israelites waited and longed for the Messiah to come and save them. As we wait to celebrate the birth of that Savior, we get in touch during Advent with the same longing and waiting of the Israelites as “we wait for the blessed hope” ~ the second coming of Christ. 

We anticipate a time when we will see God more clearly. A time when we will be fully like the Son – pure and holy – fully transformed. This is “the inheritance kept in heaven”, the “inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade”. This is what we wait and long for.  We wait in hope for the Lord.

Jesus Christ is our living hope, and as we wait for His second coming, we have a call to live now as people of hope ~ “to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age”. This is an active hope.

For God’s people, hope is a promise, not a wish. The foundation of our hope is found in the resurrection of Jesus, giving us confidence that He will do as He promised. Hope helps us live now in expectation of a glorious future. We can live in hope despite trials, pain and suffering, despite pandemics, lockdowns and grief. We live in hope because our hope is living. Our hope is living because it is in the living God!

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