My devotional reading this week is in Hebrews. It’s been very enouraging, because life seems to be a deliberate putting of one foot in front of the other to move foreward. It’s not a smooth or easy gait; it takes thought and prayer and courage. It takes hope.

I read from the ESV Reformation Study Bible, and in reading Hebrews 6 today, there is a boxed-in commentary on the subject of hope. I will quote the whole thing, because it’s good.

Christians look forward with hope to the joy of being wih Christ in glory forever. Faith is defined as “the assurance of things hoped for” (Heb. 11:1) because the invisible things hoped for in the future are grasped through faith. Hope is certain; it is “a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul” (Heb. 6:18,19). According to the Bible, Christ is “our hope” (1 Tim 1:1), and our God is called “the God of hope” (Rom. 15:13).

An ethic of hope pervades the New Testament. It is an ethic of pilgrimage for strangers on their way home (Heb. 11:13; 1 Pet. 2:11). It is an ethic of purity, as the one who hopes to be like Jesus when He appears “purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:3). It is an ethic of preparedness, since we should be ready to leave this world at any time (2 Cor. 5:6-8; Phil. 1:21-24; cf. Luke 12:15-21). Hope calls us to be patient (Rom. 8:25; cf. 5:1-5.). Hope gives strength and confidence for running the race, fighting the good fight, and enduring the tribulations that continue in this life (John 16:33; Acts 14:22; Rom. 8:18; 2 Tim. 4:7-8).

Though the Christian life is marked more by suffering than by triumph (Acts 14:22; 1 Cor. 4:7-18), our hope is sure and our mood should be free from despair (1 John 4:18).

I definitely like triumph more than suffering, The ongoing, unchanging, circumstances of suffering wear me out if I start to drift away from a vibrant, lively hope in Christ. It takes paying constant attention to the truths of the Bible. Meditating on them, singing them, speaking them all keep them in the front of my mind and help them to sink deep into my heart. Christ is my hope, and he has provided all that I need to be and do as he is.