Heavenly Hope: Not Hope in Hope but Hope in Jesus

Scripture tells us “hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life” (Proverbs 13:12). And all our hopes and longings are all fulfilled in Christ Jesus. We have this hope as an anchor for our souls – strong and secure. Many (if not all) of us have experienced dashed hopes and dreams in this fallen world. We expected an entirely different outcome than what we experienced. When we base our hopes upon the people and things of this temporal world we are surely going to be sorely disappointed. They will always be found wanting – they never measure up. They were never meant to fully satisfy the human soul. Only Jesus does. Things and others will never bring us the fullness of contentment that only Christ Jesus brings. He is to be our sufficiency and strength. Contrary to any earthly thing we may place our hearts on, or person we may depend upon. It is He Who never leaves us nor forsakes us. 
We were created to seek fullness in the eternal, something the temporal world cannot provide and something that we can never be robbed of. A solid foundation we can place our hopes upon. Our Provision of the gift of the Holy Spirit was made possible by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ alone fully satisfies the human soul. He is the Living Water overflowing our cups – filling every empty space so that we are no longer needy. Yet, we will not be convinced that we need filling until we realize just how empty we truly are, Amen? It is never Jesus plus something else. It is aways just Jesus. People who belong to Him are satisfying to be around because they are no longer needy but rather over-flowing to others. And all who belong to Christ are promised the same result: from emptiness to the fullness of life, now and forever. Asaph rightly states in Psalm 73:25-26 NIV): “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
His portion truly satisfies. The Creator knows what the created needs, Amen? Those in Him confidently understand that His resurrection ensures our resurrection. That His eternal life ensures our eternal life. “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, because He lives all fear is gone; because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living, just because He lives” as the Gaither song goes. The only way for us to truly have hope is for our sins to be dealt with – and they were through Jesus’ work on the cross for all who would believe.