"In His great mercy [God] has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." -1 Peter 1:3
In my hallway I've hung framed photos of my ancestors. Except for the two of me on the left these people are no longer living. Many of them I never knew. I have no idea what their hopes and dreams were.
Each of us has some kind of hope we depend on to get us out of bed each morning even if it's just looking forward to that first cup of coffee. But once that hope has been fulfilled we have to move on to the next hope to motivate us to "do" life. Maybe it's "I hope the kids cooperate without too much fuss and get ready for school on time," or "I hope the traffic on the way to work isn't too bad." Or maybe you hope for some event to happen in your life like getting married, having children, finding a fulfilling job, or that you'll be able to pay your bills this month. All these hopes, though, are really just dreams or wishes.
God offers us a LIVING Hope--one that isn't just a wish. His Hope guarantees us the Holy Spirit who offers us a life framed by God and filled with the work of Christ.
I am grateful for God's great mercy in giving me living hope.
I guess to me the word" hope " is good but I feel I need to really just use the word KNOWING and KNOW in my own experience. IF I hope , I find myself leaving doubt in there --and surely the Bible means " a living hope" and yes that makes sense to me a " Living Hope" for that is a knowing. as Jesus is our " living hope" But when people say " I hope this or that. I replace it with " I know this or that" for God is solid and real and his Hopes for me are strong and alive.. and in that sense I see that word come to solid knowing in Christ.
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