15 Instead, regard Christ the Lord as holy in your hearts. Whenever anyone asks you to speak of your hope, be ready to defend it. 16 Yet do this with respectful humility, maintaining a good conscience. Act in this way so that those who malign your good lifestyle in Christ may be ashamed when they slander you. 17 It is better to suffer for doing good (if this could possibly be God’s will) than for doing evil.
Reflection
It can be very disconcerting to find your name listed as the deceased in an obituary, especially since this is supposed to be a devotional about hope.
But that’s what I saw when I read on Monday, July 20, 2020. The headline read: “Umpire Reed dies at 70.”
Then I realized they got other things wrong as well. Obviously, it wasn’t my obituary. Boy, was I relieved. I had a birthday coming up. I was 67 on July 29th. I didn’t want to miss it.
Back to 2020. My birthday takes place in the middle of a pandemic. Maybe I’m being hopeful. That would mean this pandemic will stop in about six months. I don’t think anything we’re hearing would cause it to stop in six months.
So, what does this pandemic mean to you? At that time, I was a widower, which meant that I would be alone much of the time. For many, it meant no hope.
I won’t kid you. There have been many times that I’ve felt hopeless. There have been many times I’ve felt anxious. There have been many times I’ve felt depressed.
But, as Christians we have hope. Real hope.
Paul wrote to the Ephesians about this hope in Ephesians 1:18 and following: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.”
There are about 180 passages in the Bible that deal with hope. At one time I had these scriptures committed to memory. But age, and having a stroke to boot, my memory skills have deteriorated.
Still, I can plug in a word in Biblegateway.com and come up with a list or words for whatever word I’m studying. And I can go to Ephesians 1. God put such verses in the Bible because He knew that sometimes we are hopeless or anxious.
I needed to go to theses verses time and again—especially during the pandemic.
I’ll close with what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:7 and following: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.”
We have this treasure in jars of hope.
by Rick Reed
For Pondering and Prayer
As Christians, we always have hope, even when it doesn’t seem like it. We have a great God.
Prayer: Almighty and loving God, thank you for making me hopeful—even when it doesn’t feel like it. Thank you for always being there. In Jesus name, Amen.
