DREAMING FOR HOPE
By Randall Siddens
Have you ever taken time to look back at your childhood and
remember all the things you dreamed about doing? How many of
those dreams came true? I think it is funny that when we are
young, we hope for great things, things that are seemingly
impossible. Even in our young minds we probably knew that it
wasn't very likely we would accomplish our dreams, yet we still
hoped for them. I think that as we get older, we find that many
things we dream of end up disappointing us. Sometimes we may
never come close to our dreams. Sometimes we try hard and get
close but fail, and sometimes we achieve our dreams and move on
to newer, higher dreams. What happened to the child-like hope
that we had?
Being in college, I am surrounded by people and friends who
are very aspiring. We are going to college because we want to get
a degree in some area of study so that we can go on to start
careers. We want a career so that we will make lots of money and
we can have the nice things that we've always wanted. That would
be the "American Dream," as some would say.
We have many goals and dreams, but as I was talking to a
friend one day, I realized that with all my dreams, I lacked any
real amount of hope in my life.
Hope is more than just dreams or aspirations; it is
something that is more than a wild fancy. It is easy for us to
find ourselves down and depressed when we don't achieve our
dreams, or we don't have anything to hope for. But God has given
us all we need to overflow with hope. We have hope in His
promises, hope of salvation. In fact, even the trials of life
can bring hope.
Romans 5 says tribulation produces perseverance, and
perseverance character, and character hope, and hope does not
disappoint. Hope is one thing that should set Christians apart
from the world. Faith, hope, and love, are three things that the
world doesn't have to offer. The Bible says that of these three,
love is the greatest (1 Corinthians 13:13). Love is also the
hardest and most twisted by the world. Love has as many as 28
different meanings, with some that don't even come close to
agreeing with the Bible's meaning of love.
Hope, on the other hand, has only 10 definitions that all
have roughly the same meaning. Hope is not confusing or
difficult, but I think it is often overlooked in life. God wants
us to have hope. It is part of the abundant life that Christ came
to give to us. Let us not forget to have a child-like faith, a
hope of things that do not disappoint.
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust
in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the
Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13 NIV).
....................
Acts magazine - March/April 2007 - a publication of the General
Council of the Churches of God, 7th Day, Meridian, ID. USA
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