The hope of Jesus is an eternal hope. A hope in time and beyond time. Transcendent of all circumstances, evident in each but not contained in any specific one. A hope for now and for the future. This is the blessed gift of Christ and the opportunity of today.

That hope has a source: the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. It is his resurrection power that gives us a new birth. It makes us a new creation.

Because we have a new identity as a child of the King, we now have a royal inheritance, reserved in heaven for us.

This is the true perspective of the Bible. How does that compare to how we view ourselves? It is easy to slip into comparing ourselves to others, to an image or ideal, and become discouraged. To think we don’t amount to much.

Our true reality is not just hope, but a living hope.

If we decide to hope in the lies of this world, the false perspective we might have about ourselves, it leads to apathy and complacency. We are always on the defensive, trying to protect the mask of ourselves and the mirage of our image. The name of the game becomes self-preservation, even at the price of self-awareness or self-actualization.

We can sense the missed opportunities passing us by day after day. No matter how well we are doing at “survival”, we cannot hush the longing for purpose.

The hope of Jesus is an eternal hope.. A hope for now and for the future. A hope for circumstances and a hope that transcends circumstance. This is the blessed gift of Christ and the opportunity of today.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,”
– 1 Peter 1:3-4