Hope Will Not Disappoint

“And (the) hope maketh not ashamed;
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us”
Romans 5:5

Hope will not bring a true believer to shame for the true hope is not a whimsical wish or vain thought. The true hope is a power that holds one’s heart firm in the midst of storm and trial.

“Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and stedfast,
and which entereth into that within the veil”
Hebrews 6:19

In Hebrews the living Hope of His own is equated to an anchor for the soul. The purpose of an anchor is to hold a boat firm so it does not drift away from its position. The line to which the anchor is attached passes out of sight, a picture of faith and hope in the common course of life. The anchor has no ability to hold on its own. It must find its resting place on the terra-firma below. It is not an empty religious hope; it is a hope that “enters in within the veil”. The inner sanctum of the temple/tabernacle is called the Holy of Holies. It is the place where God dwelt and manifested Himself. “The Hope” (as rendered in the Greek) is not some imagined expectation based on hearsay. It is the power of the fruit of faith, an anchor to the very soul of man. The power of Hope brings men and women to a life of stability and authenticity. There can be no stability in those who are not authentic. Those who live and walk for appearance sake only will not withstand the storms of life. It is in those storms that we are made bare. Not only is The Hope an anchor for our soul, it is also a living power to purge us of all pretense and ignorance. It beckons us to be “…found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith”. This Hope works in the lives of His own to penetrate the fog of our own thinking and the deceitfulness of our own hearts to bring us to the light and glory of the One who dwells within the veil.

“And every man that hath this hope in him
purifieth himself, even as he is pure”
1 John 3:3

This Hope pulsates with the very light of God and rests in the character of His being. It is an anchor through relationship with Him who is immovable. Hope brings character, for character is the revelation of a pure heart.

“A double minded man is unstable in all his ways”
James 1:8

Left to ourselves, by nature we are double minded (or as the Greek would render it (“double souled”). The religious man seeks to serve God and self but as Jesus spoke so clearly “no man can serve two masters…” Sooner or later the choice must be made and the life revealed. It is as we hold on to this living hope that a fire is set within and we know the purging and purifying power of His hope. “This hope” makes not ashamed, will not disappoint and will not leave us “barren nor unfruitful” in the things of our God.

“And hope maketh not ashamed;
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us”
Romans 5:5

The end of “the Hope” makes us not ashamed “because the Love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost”! The true and living Hope of God working within the lives of His own must culminate in God’s Love being expressed in our lives! His hope will not allow us to be ashamed because His Love will be the surety of its own authenticity.

“He that loves not knows not God; for God is love”
1 John 4:8

Ω

“And now faith, hope, and love,
these three things remain;
but the greatest of these is love”
1 Corinthians 13:13

Brian Troxel
www.aword.info