John 16:33 (NKJV) These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
I decided to continue last weeks commentary, on hope. Last week I opened with Job 17:15 Where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see it?
We live in a tumultuous world. It can be a frightful, violent, unfair place. This, however, is not a recent development. This world has been so since Adam and Eve’s disobedience. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked;Who can know it? It has been so since man’s fall. The wickedness that abounds throughout the world is born from the wickedness in man’s heart. It is only through the redemptive power of Jesus Christ and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit that this wickedness can be extinguished.
Have faith, though. As Jesus assures us in John 16:33, “in Me you may have peace…be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” This is where my hope is. This is where your hope should be. We have no reason, no right to worry, despair or be anxious, no matter what is going on around or to us. Having peace, living without angst, is not the same as not caring. It is trust in Him. It is a belief in the bible, The Holy Word of God! It is where your Hope should reside.
Presidents will come and go. Kingdoms will rise and fall. World order will shift, settle and shift again. Pastor Jon Duey shared a verse this past Sunday, that I feel is a fitting summation to my commentary on Hope. Malachi 3:6 “For I am the Lord, I do not change; Our God is, always was and always will be unchanging. He is PERFECT! That’s where my Hope is! Have a blessed weekend.
In full pursuit of the greatest Trophy,
Scott Pace
