Skip to main content

A=B=C=D

             May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

 

            Hope: The conviction that things can and will get better or will not get worse. 

            Joy: The conviction that one is cared for by someone who can.

            Trust: The conviction that someone not only can, but will act in one’s best interest and/or according to their word. At the very least, behavior will be in accordance with what has been previously demonstrated.

            Peace: voluntary submission and agreement

 

            As you read these definitions, I suspect you get one of three responses. The first is dizziness. Round and round and round we go. The second is equality. A=B=C=D. Hope may not be joy, trust, or peace, but if you’re experiencing one, you probably have all four and being without one likely means you’re without the other three. The third response you may have is irritation because we like to think of hope, joy, trust, and peace as emotions, not states. We want to feel but not do or take responsibility for them.

            But the key is that we can’t really pick and choose. We can’t have joy without trust, or hope without peace. And it gets worse because none of them are available, according to this passage, apart from a relationship with the One who can and will do what needs to be done. I may be able to give you a measure of joy or peace, but I’ll fail.

            We sometimes even claim that God fails, but the truth is that when God doesn’t do what we want Him to, and we declare that He’s failed, the failure is on our part, not His.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more