“Hope is a thing with feathers,” Emily Dickinson once wrote in one of her poems. I’m positive she wasn’t thinking of our living hope in Christ, but she does make some insightful statements about hope that apply, only apply, to Christian hope. She writes that no storm or “chillest land” can extinguish hope; in fact, it never asks for anything.
Those of us who have hope in Christ know this is true. Our hope is a living one because Christ has been raised from the dead. It’s not anchored to anything in this world. The anchor of our hope is Christ, and He is seated at the right hand of the Father. And where He is, we will be one day. And what He has (glory and the kingdom), we will have one day. This is solid hope…a firm foundation…nothing, not death or hell, not all our sins, can ever unmoor us from this hope. It is as sure as Christ Himself.
Col 1:4-5 tell us that when our hope is in Christ, we trust in Christ more. We rest on His unchanging grace more. We rely on His righteousness and power more. Christ only asks that we see the hopeless “hopes” of this world and fall on Him for help. When we know our future is secure, through all sufferings of life, even the worst, our hope bolsters greater faith in Christ.
In addition to greater faith, this “hope laid up for you in heaven” found only in the gospel bolsters our love “for all the saints.” When we don’t have to have this world, when we’re freed from the tyranny of earthly comforts and securities, when we don’t fear not having enough or missing out on something, our hearts are freed up to love others. To genuinely sacrifice for others. To give, and in giving, not worry about our own receiving.
So, consider the riches of salvation, both now and future. God is reserving His glories for you, the glories that Christ procured with His blood. So, hope in heaven. And you will know the joy of investing in something greater than this world as your hope amplifies your faith in Christ and deepens your love for one another.
