I want you to think about the meaning of hope. Hope is at the heart of the gospel. Without it we have a useless faith. We may say that we believe God; but believe Him for what? If we have no future component to God’s promise, there is no point to our faith. Even worse, we are to be pitied above all men (1 Cor. 15:19)! But Jesus rose from the dead and He is our hope! Because He rose, so will we! We have eternal life if our faith is in Him! Are your eyes on the hope that the gospel brings?
Jesus’ death means your sins are forgiven forever (if you make Jesus’ death your death) and Jesus’ resurrection means that you can stand before a Holy God for all of eternity – completely made new – because you are in Christ. Are you in Him? If you are, you have a hope that looks forward to the day when you will be raised too! Remember what Paul says: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20, NIV).
We live the crucified life now because we know (we have a sure hope) that something better is coming! Are you living in that hope? The proof is in how you live now. If you don't say “no” to sin now, whether you agree or not, the reality is, you are not saying “yes” to what is coming later – you are not actually saying “yes” to hope (Titus 2:11-14). If you were, you wouldn’t be taking hold of this world; you would say "no" because you know something better is coming.
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