MONDAY: BIRTH OF A LIVING HOPE

Sep 5, 2022
2 min read

Lord, my soul is hungry, truly famished. It needs to be fed. Please give me spiritual food to fuel my faith through Your living HOPE!

1 Peter 1:3-9

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. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

I’ve gone through some trials in my life—I’m even going through some right now. I wish they weren’t here, but God wants me to know through His Word that these trials are important to my spiritual development.

Through these trials, I realize HOPE. It’s not like I haven’t thought about hope before, but in the midst of the trial, I see God’s Perspective—He has opportunity to work in my life and show Himself to me. The hope He presents is not a wish…it’s a living hope…a verifiable fact…which He has given me, an inheritance that is eternal. If I focus on this eternal perspective instead of my circumstances, I will experience joy. This joy causes me to re-joy-ce…to re-live that joy over and over, day after day. That joy fuels my faith, producing genuine love for Christ that I can share with those He has placed around me. This joy, hope, and love assures me of my salvation.

THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS: This life is not about what I want, or the control I think I have or don’t have. It’s about Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, pronouncing that the very things I am enduring today are for a reason, and while I don’t know the reason, the outcome will benefit my soul by lavishing me with love, hope, and joy.

What will I do with these things now that the all-powerful God has placed these all-powerful and life-changing attributes in my heart? I need to share these things with others—especially my family and friends, so they can feel this same power I feel today. Lord, please give me the strength and courage today to do just that.

May you be blessed,

Chaplain Wayne Ruckman