What Do We Need To Do With Our Hope?
Take hold of it
Hebrews 6:17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.
18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.
Keep hold of it
Hebrews 10: 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds.
25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Notice the importance of being part of a church, of meeting together, and of spurring one another on. The Christian life is not meant to be lived alone!
Set your hope / prepare your mind
1 Pet 1:13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Wear it like a helmet
1 Thess 5:8 But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.
Feed it like soil
Col 1:5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel
If hope is like the soil from which faith and love spring, it makes sense that we must feed it.
Be ready to explain it at all times
1 Pet 3:14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.”
15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
17 It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
Peter expects that we will suffer for our faith, and that in the context of suffering, people will recognise that we have hope and will be inclined to ask us to explain it.
If people do not regularly ask us for such an explanation, it may be that we have life too easy, for our hope shines forth particularly through suffering. It may also be that we lack hope, and need to take hold more fully of all that the Bible says God will do for us in the future.
This verse is often quoted when church leaders encourage Christians to share the Gospel, and rightly so. But notice that it is especially about the hope that we have in the Gospel. We must be able to explain what God will do for us in the future, not just what he has done for us in the past.
Hebrews 6:17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.
18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.
Keep hold of it
Hebrews 10: 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds.
25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Notice the importance of being part of a church, of meeting together, and of spurring one another on. The Christian life is not meant to be lived alone!
Set your hope / prepare your mind
1 Pet 1:13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Wear it like a helmet
1 Thess 5:8 But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.
Feed it like soil
Col 1:5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel
If hope is like the soil from which faith and love spring, it makes sense that we must feed it.
Be ready to explain it at all times
1 Pet 3:14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.”
15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
17 It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
Peter expects that we will suffer for our faith, and that in the context of suffering, people will recognise that we have hope and will be inclined to ask us to explain it.
If people do not regularly ask us for such an explanation, it may be that we have life too easy, for our hope shines forth particularly through suffering. It may also be that we lack hope, and need to take hold more fully of all that the Bible says God will do for us in the future.
This verse is often quoted when church leaders encourage Christians to share the Gospel, and rightly so. But notice that it is especially about the hope that we have in the Gospel. We must be able to explain what God will do for us in the future, not just what he has done for us in the past.