Abounding Hope 

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Romans 15:13 ESV

Near the end of Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome he addresses the issue of hope, our Christian hope. God is the source of all hope and should be our only object of hope. True hope comes from nowhere else, but God.  We can put our hope in others, or in ourselves, or wish upon a star as in a fairy tale, but it will prove to be all for naught. God has proven He is the only true hope for the world.

God makes known our basis for hope in Him through His Word. Paul writes, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Ro.15:4 esv) All scripture written previously in the Old Testament was for our benefit. It provided hope in what was promised in the coming Messiah encouraging us through the prophecies that were fulfilled and those yet to come. The New Testament speaks volumes through its twenty-seven chapters of the hope we can have in Christ; salvation, eternal life, and hope in this world.

The promises of God we see all throughout Scripture is the foundation for being able to be rich in hope. We have joy and peace with God through the power of the Holy Spirit enabling us to abound in hope. The Wycliffe Bible Commentary notes, “Abounding in Christian hope should be an apt description of every Christian. The Christian looks ahead with a contagious enthusiasm. God has filled him with hope.” May we display that abounding hope to a hopeless world.