This morning is the beginning of our last full day at Camp. Tonight will feature our traditional Friday night talent show, awards presentation and video look-back, and then tomorrow morning we will pack up and leave soon after breakfast. As always the week has flown by. Yesterday evening we heard a tremendous sermon on the subject WHAT DOES A LOVING AND FORGIVING HEART LOOK LIKE? Tonight we look forward to hearing Keith Almond deliver the annual Friday night sermon. It’s always a highlight.
As previously mentioned, in the morning sessions our young people are studying the word “faith.” Yesterday’s devotional took a look at one aspect of the word that needs to be understood in order to better appreciate it; we considered how faith is all about trusting.
Today, finally, let’s consider how faith is also all about HOPING.
In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
Titus 1:2
Even worse than faith, “hope” is a word that has become horribly misapplied. Ask someone playing the McDonalds Monopoly game “are you going to win a million dollars?” and listen to their response: “Boy I sure hope so!”
Listen guy, you’ve got like a one in a million shot at winning the monopoly game. Odds are you aint winning jack. What you mean to say is “Probably not, but it’d be nice wouldn’t it?”
The word “hope” doesn’t mean “I don’t think so but it’s a nice thought.” It means “belief+expectation.”
It is not only appropriate, therefore, it is also encouraged, for God’s people to say “I hope I’m going to Heaven.” The statement implies you believe that Heaven is waiting for you (that’s a belief driven by knowledge and an understanding of the evidence) and that you expect to be there some day.
Why hope? Why hope for eternal life in Heaven? Because God promised it to His people (John 14). And since God can not lie, the better question would be “why not hope? Why not hope for eternal life in Heaven?” The evidence points to its being there, God has promised it is waiting, the only reason not to hope in it is you! You’d have to go out of your way not to have hope for Heaven. God has made it so easy to go; all you have to do is obey His commands, and you can have the same hope. You can live from now until either you die or the Lord returns with faith. Faith that Heaven is waiting for you, and when asked, you can say “I’m going.” Why? “Hope.”
Do you have that kind of faith? The kind that finds the evidence in things unseen? The kind that accepts God’s commands without argument? The kind that lets you say “I have my own faith”? The kind that trusts in God? Do you have the kind of faith that is fueled by hope? If not why not?
Think about it,
have a great day!
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