“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” – 1 Peter 3:15
Rereading this favorite passage this morning, the word hope stood out. Hope, the very thing that our salvation provides, can be compared to many earthly things, all of which fall short of its eternal implication. One might find a slight semblance of the divine nature of this word to that of the days leading up to a vacation or journey far from home. While we may know most of the details of our trip, there are those tantalizing, mysterious aspects that bring upon us an eagerness to be surprised. In all this jovial apprehension, hope percolates up to the top of our emotional cauldron, providing us with a purpose to undergo whatever hardships we may encounter in our struggle to reach that new destination. Most often, our preconceived notions of what is to come either fall short, or are never comparable to what we imagine. To that latter, the hope of life eternal, in the presence of God, can only be fathomed in the slimmest of margins with what we will actually experience. To know Him is to know love. To be fully surrounded by that agape, that blissful envelopment of God’s omnipotent being can bring a sense of power in the hope that it provides.
Today as you go about your day, think about hope. Do you have it? Do you want it? Can just the image of a beautiful bouquet of flowers ignite the passion within to seek it? Seek Him first, and all things will flow from Him. #thanksbetoGod #seekHimFirst #faith #hope #love
