Rebellions Are Built on Hope

“We have hope.  Rebellions are built on hope.” (Rogue One)

Hope… it’s why we get married; why we have kids; why we go to college; why we go to the gym; why we go on blind dates; why we pay for makeovers; why we invest in the stock market… it’s why I continue to root for my Chargers.  (Glad they could give Cleveland their lone win for this season)

But when scripture speaks about hope it doesn’t reference it like any of these.  These are all filled with an idea that maybe, just maybe, things will work out one day.  Rather, hope, in scripture, is the confident expectation we have in the sacrificial work of Jesus.  A work consummated with His resurrection.  Prior to that event, “hope” was only mentioned once in the New Testament.  Yet, after, more than fifty times!

Hope is our faith in future tense. (Hebrews 11)

It’s impossible to finish a year and not look back and remember the benchmarks, milestones, people and moments that will forever define 2016.  The gap between loss and celebration, pain and joy, contrast the many moments in which my hope has been both assaulted and strengthened this year.  I’m sure you feel the same.  But, this is what defines us as followers of Jesus.  As leaders of a “rebellion.”  We don’t settle for today.  We fight against it.

Our Hope, placed only in God’s glory, calls us into a future separated from contrast.  A Kingdom which beckons us to “be holy” in an unholy place.  To not settle for the now but to joyously look ahead toward the day there will be no more gaps.

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. (Romans 12)

2017 is upon us.  One million is ahead.  Let us rejoice.