ABOUNDING HOPE
Romans 15:13 (NKJV) Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
True Godly Hope brings emotional stability, resulting in a settled confidence in the future as we look forward with God’s eternal perspective. The goal is not that we have a little bit of hope, but that we would ABOUND in it. The word “abound” here is from a Greek word meaning to be in excess, to have more than enough, or to have something in superabundance (CWSB Dictionary). When bad news comes our way, sometimes bringing one bad report after another with no reprieve, we tend to make more withdraws than deposits from our “bank account” of hope. Hope gets depleted. If it is natural hope, it tends to run dry rather quickly, but if we have a superabundance of Godly hope, we have more than enough reserves to not only keep us going through the difficulties but to cause us to proactively be used by the Spirit to affect change around us. God does not only want us to simply “get by”, barely keeping our heads above the water, hanging on by a thread until Jesus returns. He wants us to thrive, to rise above our circumstances and live with purpose and destiny (Rom 8:37; 1 Thess 1:1-10).
How do we abound in hope? “That” qualifies the statement. “Now may the God of hope fill you with joy and peace in believing, THAT you may abound ….” (caps mine) The way hope abounds is by the God of hope filling us with joy and peace. Simply put, joy and peace are gladness of heart and inner tranquility, and notice the passive nature of this - He fills us. We do not fill ourselves. We cannot secure true joy and peace by hard work or worrisome mental devices, rather we are the receptors of a generous God that gives it to us freely. In the difficulties of life we truly can receive inner tranquility and gladness of heart, living with a settled spirit in the midst of a surrounding storm. Are we settled in our spirit, abounding in hope as we look in faith towards the glorious things to come as the will of God plays out in real time? Do we look with thrill and exhilaration as God brings His kingdom to the earth, incrementally now, but soon to be ultimate and overwhelming? The latest news may be grim. Our political side may be losing. Pressure on us as we practice our faith may be intensifying, but none of this can throw us off if we are abounding in the hope that looks at a different view of the world, one where the God of hope is in absolute, perfect control.
