Week 26 — MONDAY

This last passage introduces us to another: “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I may be cheered by news of you” (Phil. 2:19). This verse introduces us to the word “hope”—a word which the ancients distrusted and repudiated. The Hindus have built up this distrust of hope into the philosophy of Maya—Illusion. Everything earthly is Maya.

The Christian faith redeemed the word “hope.” “So faith, hope, love abide …” “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Rom. 15:13). “And endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us” (Rom. 5:4-5).

Hope has been redeemed because the earthly life has been redeemed. It is not Maya—it is meaningful. The earthly life for the Christian “produces character”—this life is “a vale of character-making.” Every event has destiny in it. The world process and the world itself are to be redeemed. “Your Kingdom come … on earth”—the earth is to be the subject and scene of redemption. It has a future. It is to be added back to heaven from which it broke off because of sin. It is to be redeemed by the blood of the Son of God—His blood stains have rendered sacred forever the soil of the world.

The Christian never knows when he is beaten. He begins with defeat—the defeat of the cross. You cannot defeat defeat. It starts with defeat and turns that defeat into victory—the cross into an Easter Morning. The Christian is incorrigibly hopeful. When he cannot sing of what is, he sings of that which is to be. When that which is to be looks hopeless, he still sings—on general principles! In spite of. A Christian leper had only two fingers left. He used them to grasp a violin and play it—in spite of! That is the Christian hope. It is incorrigible.

Dear Lord Jesus, You said while standing in the shadow of the cross, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world,” help me this day to live on Your victory and hope in Your hope. You are the sole ground of our hope. Amen.

AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.