Hope For What We Cannot See
24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Romans 8:24-25
There are many words that we regularly use without much thought. Awesome is one of those words. We say things like: that last Avengers movie was awesome; the new Bieber album is awesome; vacation is going to be awesome. Another word common to our everyday speech is love. We all know that our beloved elder Jeremy Cali “loves pizza.” But, Cali is very aware that his love for pizza is but a dark shadow compared to God’s love. Hope is one of those words that we tend to throw around without much consideration.
We hope that the economy opens up soon. We hope for that awesome Christmas present from our spouse. We hope to get that awesome pizza we love so much for dinner, tonight. However, with every instance of hope we have for things like these, there is an equal amount of uncertainty as to whether we obtain them. We hope, but we are ultimately uncertain. This is not the case with godly, Christian, gospel hope. It is true that what we hope for we do not see presently in front of us. But, the object and content of our hope are certain.
Our hope is Christ, and we hope for the glory that comes with His return. This hope is certain, that the Lord will bring everything to its determined end. Even though we struggle with sin in this life and death is all around us, we hope for that day when Christ returns. Though we do not see presently the fullness of salvation that is our in Christ, in hope we patiently wait for the completion of God’s kingdom. Because of Christ, we have an assurance of faith and hope for all that is to come.