What’s the good news?
Did you know that patients who believe that they have hope usually recover quicker and live longer than those who don’t? Did you know that troubled marriages in which the partners believe that things can get better are significantly more likely to get better than in identical circumstances without an optimistic outlook? Man can endure almost anything, as long as there is hope. Hope is powerful stuff! (Remember Proverbs 13:13? “Hope deferred makes the heart grow sick!”)
A biblical understanding of hope is even more powerful. It isn’t just wishing that things will get better-it is knowing that they will, and looking forward to that day! That’s why “hope” is such an important term in our understanding of heaven.
We have hope because of what Jesus has done: he has given us his righteousness-a gracious act that transforms our lives. Here’s how Paul put it: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame (“disappoint” NIV), because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:1-5 ESV)
Now that’s what I call good news!
Forget seven habits or twelve steps-this passage describes the secret to successful, joyous, hope-filled, and heaven-bound living-and the secret’s name is Jesus the Christ!
Who will you share him with this week?