December 14 – Disciplines of the Mind: Hope (1 Peter 1:13-21)

“Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.”(1 Peter 1:13)

IN WORD:
The kind of hope that is natural to the fallen human mind is based on wishful thinking. It is a dream that things will one day work out well, that desires will be met, that somehow things will get better. It is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow or the fairy tale of true love. It has a great imagination but no confidence. We always wake up from that dream.
But biblical hope is not wishful thinking. It looks forward to the fulfillment of certain promises, and it even brings those promises into the present. The faulty, human hopes we dream about are vestiges from before the Fall, reminders that we were built for an eternal Kingdom of peace and perfection. Biblical hope brings those dreams back to reality and lines us up with the God who created us to dream big. It is not held captive by today’s circumstances, it cannot be squelched by anything this world brings against it, and it cannot die. Hope is not a figment of our imagination, it is a life based on truth.
But we cannot have hope unless we’ve disciplined our minds to accept it. We’re too used to our fantasies proving false, and we’re afraid the Kingdom of God will end up as just another fantasy. The natural mind always makes God’s promises seem unrealistic and hopelessly out of reach. But it lies, and we must redirect our thoughts. Much of discipleship is simply understanding and believing reality. We must turn from false thinking.

IN DEED:
Hope knows who God is. The mountains we encounter in life are irrelevant, because the Rock is a greater reality. A mind trained in biblical hope can apply God’s ultimate promises to current situations. It can base our present reality on our future grace.
Don’t let hopelessness influence your life. It is based on lies and it will paralyze you. We hope in our God because He has told us the truth and His promises are certain.

“The future belongs to those who belong to God. This is hope.”
-W.T. Purkiser-