A Story of Hope
Do you know how many times hope is connected to a story of
grace in the bible?
EVERYTIME!!
Every story of grace started off as a story of hope.
There are the most beautiful hope stories in the book of
Luke. A lot of my revelations came out of
Luke, but I've only learned recently that Luke
was the only writer that was a non-Jew.
He did not fit the time and culture, so it only makes sense that he has
written so many stories of grace for the unlikeliest of men and women. Particularly women who were not regarded as important or worthy in
that time.
Hopelessness is a lonely place to be in. In a culture where
we live with a scarcity mindset, hope gets chucked into the same bucket with
all the rest – where looks, popularity, acclaim, honour, parenthood,
opportunities and what not gets evaluated and deemed not enough; is our hope enough? Have we crossed our arms over our hearts protecting ourselves from
the heartache, disappointments, perceived failure and trauma? Do we still dare
to hope? Have you been there recently? I
think we’ve all been there as some point.
Heartache and Hopelessness heaped ashes upon heads (Tamar in
2 Sam 13:19) and made a prophet lie down under a lone juniper tree asking that
he might die (Elijah, 1 Kings 19).
A wise man said in Proverbs: ‘Hope deferred makes the heart
sick’. Then an even wiser Man said: ‘The
Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, He has sent Me to bind up and heal the broken
hearted, to proclaim liberty to the physical and spiritual captives… to comfort
all who mourn; to grant joy, a garment of beauty instead of ashes” [Is 61:1-4].
Hope is a humbled heart crying out in faith, however big or small.
Grace is the hand of Love, touching our hearts.
FAITH, HOPE & LOVE
[1 Cor 13:13]
“And so Faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love”. . With mustard seed-size faith crying out in hope, love will enfold and heal your heart.
[1 Cor 13:7]
“Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person; its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything”.
We always read 1 Cor 13 with the perspective of the love we need to have (the grace we need to steward), but have you ever thought that God will not ask something from us, that is not 1st from Him? Because this is the way He loves us, and we are bearing His image, and Holy Spirit within us, we can dare to also endeavour to love this way.
But I am side-tracked.
Back to Luke:
Jesus was the embodiment of love and grace, and the gospel
of Luke portrays the beautiful stories where hope met grace.
A fishers man's tale:
Jesus borrowed Peter’s empty boat to preach
from. After He finished, He told Peter
to take the boat out again to the deep water and throw the nets out on the
other side. I can just imagine the frown
of worry on a tired face, shoulders hanging as he was folding his nets. He must
have looked into the eyes of Jesus with bewilderment when he said that they
tried all night, but did not catch anything.
And then with hope he said: “BUT on account of Your word, we will go out
again.” Hope & faith made him go out again (at the wrong time of day for fishing)
and he was abundantly rewarded with love & grace.
Tale of the people:
Grace answered a leper’s hope when he said to Jesus that if
He was willing, he knew that he will be healed. [Luke 5: 12]. Grace answered
the hope & faith of the paralyzed man whose stretcher was lowered through
the roof. Grace answered the hope &
faith of EVERY person brought to Him to be healed at Peter’s house. Grace was the answer to Jairus’s hope for his
daughter who was ill and died.
A tale of 2 women:
Two of the most beautiful stories of hope, faith and courage, were those of the two women who defied the crowds and the odds to be healed. These two women were ostracized by the community (excluded due to being unclean - It was also believed that if you had a prolonged illness, it was due to ongoing sin).
After 12 years of hopelessness, Hope suddenly walked the streets and the woman pressed through to touch the fringe of His garment. There was the women bent over double for 18 years who came into the synagogue interrupting His teaching. They were both met with such love and grace despite customs, rules or stares.
The biggest gift to both of them, besides the miracle
of healing, was that He actually stopped, also defying the customs, and made
them feel heard, loved and worthy. Can you picture their faces glowing and their
eyes brimming with tears of gratefulness and joy? I can promise you that a new truth fell in
their hearts that day – a truth of worth, love, grace, possibility and freedom
and that they did not keep that to themselves.
They would have shared the Hope and good news with others.
Eph 1:18
...having the eyes of your heart flooded with light so that you can understand the hope to which He has called you...
It starts with me, and you. Do you know the hope to which you are called
for? You are a gift.
You were given gifts for the hope & edification of
others. But it starts in our
hearts. Our hearts need to be flooded
first. You can only give what you have
to give.
I can only ‘overflow’ if my cup is
full enough. If I am filled with love
& grace, if that is the truth that is stored in my heart, that is what will
spill over into the lives around me (the saucer)
He has saved us so we can HAVE hope, then He called and created us to BE
hope. What if I refuse to embrace that
particular gifting (special endowment) that reflects a particular part of Him
to the world, don’t I then deny someone a piece of the hope that was placed
within me for their benefit?
Walking within our gifting (grace gifts), stewarding our
blessings, favour and purpose, becomes even more non-negotiable when we realize
how much we need each other; not only our different talents, traits and gifts,
but also each other’s light, love and grace.
Rom 15:4
...so that through endurance and encouragement of the scripture we may have hope and overflow with confidence in His promises.
My hope comes
by the Word of God and the confidence of His promises therein.
Only if my heart
is flooded with Light (He is Light, He is Word), can I understand His promises
and love for me. I can only be hope and
bring hope if I can share that Word and promises.
My heart
needs to be so filled with Word, hope, love and grace that it will pour from me
in my words and actions. Hope is part of grace. Jesus is our Hope and giver of
grace. How will
others know Him if He is not seen/experienced through people who live for the
praise of His glory?
In Like 10 Jesus sent out 70 disciples to the towns and villages to bring healing to the physical and spiritual captives (the same thing He was sent for). He equipped them and sent them. They understood the hope to which they were called for. When they returned with remarkable stories, with their hearts flooded with light, Jesus went to the side and rejoiced and gloried in the Holy Spirit, praised His Father [Luke 10:21] that he revealed these things to the unskilled, unassuming people, saying: “Yes, Father, for such was Your gracious will and choice and good pleasure.”
Then He said to them: “Blessed are those whose eyes see what you see!”
Col 1:27: "Christ in you, the hope to glory"
What a
blessing to be called to hope, by His gracious will and for His pleasure.
