Called to Hope

Graphic from Jeremie Claey

Ephesians 1:17-18 (NEV):

¹⁷ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, ¹⁸ having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

Paul is praying that the Ephesians would increase in their understanding and wisdom of the hope of their calling. Scripture repeatedly shows me this theme of hoping in God:                  

Psalm 42:5 (NASB):
Why are you in despair, o my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me?  Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence.                                                                

Proverbs 3:5-7 (MSG):
Trust God from the bottom of your heart;  don't try to figure everything out on your own. Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; He's the one who will keep you on track. Don't assume you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil!     
             
Jeremiah 17:7 (TLB):
But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and has made the Lord his hope and confidence.

I appreciate these thoughts of John Piper's on hope: "Hoping in God does not come naturally for sinners like us. We must preach it to ourselves, and preach diligently and forcefully, or we will give way to a downcast and disquieted spirit." 

This is so true.  Left to my own, I'll become ungrateful and discontented.  I'll get discouraged by circumstances.  I need God's Hope.  I'm not a baby Christian any more. Babies need to be fed, but adults feed themselves.  I need to feed, or as Piper puts it, preach, hope to myself.
I'm sitting here thinking about areas of my life where I'm hope-challenged:

•  Being able to really make things better at work
• Things ever being right for my mentally ill sister
• Having the kind of romantic life I'd like to with my husband
• Being able to lose weight and be more healthy  

 I'm trying to think of practical ways I can preach hope to myself in daily life. The things that come to my mind are replacing lies with truth, engaging in an attitude of gratitude, and listening to hope filled messages.

I need to pray that I would become aware of the hope-destroying  lies in my head.  I need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit within me and let Him act like a lie detector for me.  When I recognize the lie, I need to replace it with the truth.  As I'm reading the word,  I need to write down those verses that are truths for areas where I struggle.  Oh Father, help me receive Your Rhema word.  Thank You that You, the God of the universe, are willing to speak to me.  May I take the time to come before You so I can listen and learn.

I need to live my life with an attitude of gratitude. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells me that this is how God wants His people to live:
Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.  
In Philippians 4:8-9 direction is given on what to think about:
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Oh Father, help me focus on all that is good in my life and constantly be thanking You.  Help me not have such a negative radar where I'm always discontent because things didn't go my way.  Please empower me to have an appreciative heart for all that is good in my life.

I'm blessed with so many resources.  I drive an easy 40-minute drive to work and it provides me with an opportunity is my car to listen to Christian music and messages.  Having those messages on in the car puts my mind in the right place.

I'm actually feeling really grateful right now.  What a thing to be called to - Hope.  I'm not primarily called to financial genius, fame, beauty, or war; I'm called to Hope.    

God is Good

Graphic from Scott Wendall

Ephesians 1:3 in the Message version says it this way:

How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him.

I appreciate what John Mac Arthur says about this verse:

"The Greek word translated "blessed" is eulogetos, from which we derive the English word eulogy. It means to "speak well of someone." Paul begins verse 3 by saying that God is good. In fact, Jesus says in Matthew 19 that "there is none good but one, that is God" (v. 17). And God is good whether we perceive Him to be or not."


I read through Ephesians 1:3-14 this morning and thought I'd go through that whole passage. Then I started re-reading and can't get past this third verse. I want to spend some time today thinking on what the Bible has to say about God being good; what that means, what it means to me, and how it can impact how I live.

I want to look at some other places in the Bible that I'm told God is good:

* From the very beginning of the Bible I see God and his creative actions described in Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, & 25 as good.

* 1 Timothy 4:4 speaks to the fact that both God and all He creates are good.

*  Psalm 119:68 tells me that God's very nature is good.

* Psalm 33:5  tells me that God is so good that the earth is filled with His goodness.

* Lamentations 3:19-33 is one of my favorite scripture passages. The 25th verse especially speaks to the fact that God is good to those who seek after Him.  Good  is who God is.


 * Repeatedly in the Psalms we're told as God's followers to give thanks to God because He is good.  To cite a few of these scriptures there's  Psalm 106:1, 107:1, 118:1, & 136:1

* Psalm 25:8-11 tells me that God in His goodness will instruct me in how to live well

* James 1:16-18 makes it clear that every good gift is from God

What does it mean that God is good?

I appreciate how Richard L.Strauss explains it:

 "First of all, God Himself is good; that is, He is everything that God should be—the ideal person, the sum     total of all perfection. There are no defects or contradictions in Him, and nothing can be added to His nature  to make Him any better. He is excellence to an infinite degree, possessing every desirable quality, and  therefore of inestimable value. God is good. Because God is Himself the highest and greatest good, He is  also the source and fountain of all other good."

God is the standard for Good.

What does it mean to me that God is good?

I want a good life. The fact that God is good; that He creates good things, shows me how to live in goodness, and gives good gifts - it all makes me want God.  I want to learn about Him.  I want to know Him. I want to think about Him.  I want to seek after Him. I want live my life in obedience to Him.

Today I'm thinking on 2 simple things the fact that God is good means to me:

1. God's goodness provides me with a standard of what is good

There are messages all around me as to what is good and how I can obtain "the good life". Ethics in the workplace are sometimes transitory.  But God is unchanging (Numbers 23:19-20, Psalm 102:25-27, Hebrews 3:18, 1 Timothy 1:18).  As I learn about Him and how He functions, how He works in people's lives, what He calls me to - this shows me what is truly good.  This shows me where my life focus needs to be.

2. Remembering God's goodness keeps me encouraged.

Although the earth is filled with God's goodness, planet earth is fallen (Genesis 3:17-19, Romans 15:12-20). Life is not perfect. Stuff happens and sometimes my life is difficult.  I do things that I don't want to do.  I mess up and I'm disappointed in myself. I see people I know and care about encounter painful circumstances and events.  I see tragedies on the news and in the world around me.

I could become discouraged.

One way to keep from discouragement is to think on God's goodness.

I appreciate these thoughts from John Piper:

"when Marshall came to speak to the Wheaton alumni a few years ago down at Wheaton and told this story, he said, at the end of his talk, summing it all up, “Life is hard and God is good. Life is hard and God is good.” That is the meaning of Lamentations. That is the meaning of Job. You might say that is the meaning of the Bible. Life is hard and God is good. And many of you are right in the midst of proving it to be so now. At least if you would trust him, if I could persuade you this morning that God is trustworthy in it, and if you held on to it, you would discover that life is hard and God is good."


How does the fact that God is good affect my life?

Two ways I want God's goodness affects my daily life:

1. I want to be thankful (1 Thessalonians 5:8, Ephesians 5:20, Colossians 3:15-17, Philippians 4:6-8, 2 Corinthians 9:15).

A huge part of being thankful is choosing to focus on all the good things God's given me instead of focusing on the negative things around me.

I benefit from Joel Osteen's thoughts on choosing to be thankful:

"Choose today to let the peace of Christ rule in your heart and have an attitude of gratitude toward the Lord. Even if you have things that are upsetting you, take a step of faith and begin to thank God for his goodness in your life. Thank Him for working behind the scenes on  your behalf. As you do, you will walk forward into the life of blessing He has in store for you!"


2. I want to show God my gratitude for His goodness by giving to others.

 Vince Gerhardy makes this great point:

"The thinking of the world is that everything is mine to keep and mine to use in whatever way I choose. When God is put at the center, we realize that everything is his and he gives it to us to use not just for ourselves but for the care of others, the work of the church. As God has given to us, we start giving to others - the best way to show our gratitude.".

Oh Father, I thank You that You are a good God.  Help me to live my life in gratitude.  May my heart and lips overflow with gratitude to You throughout the day.  May I continually see ways I can give to others every day.  May I extend Your goodness to others.

Failure to follow through sometimes causes a detour

Since I didn't complete my follow through from my last time in Ephesians, I want to look at some verses the Lord brought to my mind when I was praying for forgiveness just now.

I read Lamentations 3:19-33 out of 4 different versions. I'm especially delighted by the Message paraphrase of these verses:

I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,
    the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed.
I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—
    the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there’s one other thing I remember,
    and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:

^22-24 God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
    his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
    How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
    He’s all I’ve got left.

^25-27 God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
    to the woman who diligently seeks.
It’s a good thing to quietly hope,
    quietly hope for help from God.
It’s a good thing when you’re young
    to stick it out through the hard times.

^28-30 When life is heavy and hard to take,
    go off by yourself. Enter the silence.
Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions:
    Wait for hope to appear.
Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face.
    The “worst” is never the worst.

^31-33 Why? Because the Master won’t ever
    walk out and fail to return.
If he works severely, he also works tenderly.
    His stockpiles of loyal love are immense.
He takes no pleasure in making life hard,
    in throwing roadblocks in the way

Wow. What a great God!  I'm ever so grateful for His mercy.

I'm also thinking about trying a time of just "waiting for hope" when I'm stressed or struggling with temptation. Taking a few moments just for silence before God. 

The other passage God brought to my mind was 1 John 1:9.  I read 1 John 1:5-10 out of 4 versions. Verses 8 & 9 out of the NIV especially speak to my heart:

⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

I'm so glad that He forgives me when I ask and that He makes me clean.  May I take a few moments each evening to seek His forgiveness.