Next Year
Romans 5:5 And this hope will never disappoint us. We know this because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts through the Holy Spirit he gave us.
Okay, so it’s almost New Year. It’s a time when our thoughts naturally turn to the future. A time when we hope for good things, or perhaps, when we wallow in fear over what the future might bring.
So, what does your future hold? In one sense, we’d all love to know. And yet in another, I don’t think so. I mean this coming year could be my last year on the planet, or yours. I could die, you could die next year.
Would you really like to know that on such and such a day, you’re going to be diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour? No, me neither.
So, the truth is that we actually don’t know what the future holds. Frankly we don’t even know what’s around the next corner. That’s why hoping and dreaming is so important. We all hope for good things. I mean, I have plans for next year and I’m really hoping that at least some of them will come off. I have a holiday planned in August with my wife, and I hope that we have a great time together. But all of those things are uncertain. They may happen, or they may not. I really don’t know, and nor do you.
That’s why God has a different sort of hope ready and waiting for us. Not uncertain hope – not like I hope I don’t catch the flu this winter. I’m talking about a certain hope. The sort of hope that’s rock solid; that won’t let you down. The sort of hope that’s absolutely certain.
And this hope will never disappoint us. We know this because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts through the Holy Spirit he gave us. (Romans 5:5)
Now interestingly, that passage talks about certain hope that will never disappoint us, in the context of terrible suffering. In other words, it’s hope that sticks with you through all the ups and downs.
You don’t know what next year holds. But this one thing is absolutely certain: that whatever this world may throw at you, God loves you beyond measure, He is absolutely faithful and if you believe in Jesus, if you trust your life into His hands, then you know absolutely that you’ll be spending the rest of eternity with Him.
Rock solid, certain hope. That’ll do.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
Blessed by this devotion?
Share it with a friend!
Respond