Romans 5:1-11
5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith,we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
How can we have confidence in our hope? I am a Nottingham Forest supporter and I hope that this weekend they will win their match. However, my hope will not change the outcome. They may win, or they may lose. Yesterday I entered a prize draw to win a new TV. I hope that I get it. For a lot of us hope is wishful thinking or optimism but in Romans 5, Paul talks about a different kind of hope, that you can build your life upon and survive any hardship with. This kind of hope allows you to persevere through suffering and rejection, through pain and trials: it is a firm foundation.
This kind of hope is not psychology it is theology. It is the certainty that God is working and that he has not abandoned you.
How can we be so confident of this? Paul’s answer - Christ died for you when you were his enemy. He gave his life for us when we were at our worst, at our least deserving, pouring out his life so that we could know forgiveness, restoration and new life. And if he would do that, now that we are his children, what would he not do for you?
Have you ever noticed how people come through suffering differently? One person becomes bitter and cynical, the other becomes strong and generous. It is not what happens outside that defines you, it is what you have inside you. Paul points us towards hope. Proverbs says that where hope is deferred, the heart gets sick. Where lose touch of the truth that God is working on our behalf and start to believe that we are abandoned, left to take care of ourselves, rather than the children of the living God, darkness enters our souls and our hearts grow sick. However, hold onto hope, even when you do not know how things will turn out and you can discover that every battle makes you better, every test becomes a testimony and every trial can become a triumph.
Of course, this does not mean that we will always get the breakthrough that we long for. The hope that we have in Christ is present but not always seen immediately in our lives. Abraham was promised children like the stars but he did not get to see it fulfilled in his lifetime. He waved to his inheritance from afar. God fulfilled his promises - 100%. Hope points us beyond our present pain and reminds us that God is at work, that he is good and that he has not abandoned us.
Where do you feel hopeless today?
Who do you believe that God is to you?
What does holding onto hope look like today?
