Where is Our Hope?

A friend recently posted as his Facebook status these words:  "Does it make me a maverick if I didn't vote for McCain or hate hope if I didn't vote Obama?"  Our topic at the Springs gathering yesterday was HOPE.  Many people have seen their hope disappear in the recent economic downfall.  Many people have seen their hope killed in a war that seems to have split our country.  Others watched hope burn and crumble to the ground 7 years ago.  Just recently, people in our area watched there hope float away in the path of a hurricane.  For others, hope gets a divorce and forces kids to choose between homes.  For others hope means trying to end your life just to get out of the mess they are in right now.

Then there are the positive thinkers.  Hope is just one day away.  Hope is that the market will correct itself.  Hope is lower gas prices.  Hope is a new job.  Hope is a new president.  Hope is a new path as a country.  Hope is the birth of a new child.  Hope is in new friends.  Hope is in a new church.  Hope is in new.

Where is your hope?  Where is my hope?  Where is our hope?  At the Springs, we say "We can cope with the hardships of life and with death because of the hope we have in Jesus Christ."  This is a great creedal statement for those of us who follow Christ, but really what does it mean?  In Hebrews 6:19-20 we are reminded that we have a hope that is the anchor of our souls, which is the truth that God keeps His promises.  That in itself is powerful, but what if we don't know the promises?  "Read the Bible" is what I was told my whole life.  I even had a little pocketbook of bible promises for graduates that was given to me both when I graduated from high school and college.  I guess that after seminary, people assumed I already knew them all!  The problem I have with that little book is that for too many people, it seems like a collection of fortune cookie papers.  Whatever my situation, I just look up the "fortune" promise and claim it as my own.  Something about that just doesn't seem right, even thought it did seem easy.

Now I am not sure if it's my cynicism or my maturity that has chosen to put aside that little book, but I have.  I am finding that hope is not found in a list.  It's not found in a book.  It's not found in a person.  Hope is Christ in me.  Hope is Christ in you.  Hope is Christ in us.  Hope is Christ in our neighborhood.  Hope is Christ in our cities.  Hope is Christ in our country.  Hope is Christ in our world.  Christ in us, the hope of glory!  See Colossians 1.

Hope is Christ in that woman who watches her kids while her husband spends the day in Galveston helping a disabled woman rip out the ruins of her house devastated by Ike.  Hope is Christ in the pastor who speaks words of truth to people gathered to hear from God.  Hope is Christ in the candidate who becomes president.  Hope is Christ in the teacher who leads our children.  Hope is Christ in the students at the new high school.  Hope is Christ in us.

Christ in me allows me to face difficulties in this life because I am confident that He is writing a bigger story in my life, just as he did in the lives of Abraham, Joseph, David, Mary, Martha, Peter, Paul and John.  Christ in me allows me to be confident in the face of death because he has been faithful to warm the hearts of those hurting in the past and will do so again.  Christ in me is the hope of glory.  So where is our hope?  Our hope is Christ in us!