What is Hope? - Part 2
Hope is part of what connects our past with our future...and it brings clarity to our present. Let's think about it. Our past involves where we've been, or who we once were in life. Oftentimes there are parts of our past that we don't want to think about because they are painful or embarrassing. Now it's important for us to understand that whatever we're experiencing right now in the present has at least in part been formed by our past. If our past isn't full of sugar and spice and everything nice, then there's a chance that our present state of being involves some levels of confusion, difficulty, and challenges. This is not necessary friends! We read in Ephesians 2:10,
"For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus,
so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."
Other translations of the Bible use the word "handiwork" instead of masterpiece, but the meaning is the same. It means that when God created us, He created a wonderful and unique masterpiece! He didn't create a dud who needs to try and be like someone else or copy another person's styles in life. The way God created you was and is perfect! He intentionally gave you the unique set of passions, talents, interests, styles, and even the exact sense of humor that He thought would be best for you.
We first need spend some time figuring out who and what God made us to be...then we need to accept & embrace who and what God made us to be. If we invested more time and effort in to learning this about ourselves and embracing this about ourselves, our future self would thank us! Just like our past helps to form our present, our present helps to form our future. If we're trying to copy someone else and not being true to who and what God made us to be, we will fail 100% of the time. There's literally no chance of truly fulfilling God's mission in our life if we haven't discovered who He made us to be.
If we have some junk & gunk in our past that's causing us to avoid accepting and embracing our real self, how could we ever expect to feel energized...or hopeful? We generally don't.
Hope is possible however, when we take the time to figure out who and what God made us to be, then accept & embrace this. When we operate in life in the manner in which God created us to be, there is a sense of hope that we feel, knowing that God is still leading us to a future state of ourselves...and that that future state of ourselves is not going to be a phony gimmick of someone else, but a more Christlike version of who and what God made US to be. Having the assurance that God is in the process of creating a future more Christlike version of us...now that's hope!
Be encouraged friends!
