Hope

Romans 15:7 – 13

⁷ Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. ⁸ Remember that Christ came as a servant to the Jews to show that God is true to the promises he made to their ancestors. ⁹ He also came so that the Gentiles might give glory to God for his mercies to them. That is what the psalmist meant when he wrote:

“For this, I will praise you among the Gentiles;
I will sing praises to your name.”

¹⁰ And in another place it is written,

“Rejoice with his people,
you Gentiles.”

¹¹ And yet again,

“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles.
Praise him, all you people of the earth.”

¹² And in another place Isaiah said,

“The heir to David’s throne will come,
and he will rule over the Gentiles.
They will place their hope on him.”

¹³ I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Hope. It is a feeling that is somewhat lacking in today’s society, often with great detriment. But God, who is the source of hope, wants us to overflow with hope, joy and peace as we trust in him. It is a circular argument. God wants us to have hope. He will give us the hope. All we have to do is trust him.

It is always easier to trust someone when we have seen them do what they said they would do on some previous occasion.

In the beginning of this passage Paul shows us God’s trustworthiness. He outlines the 2 reasons for Christ coming to earth. 1. To fulfil the promises made to the Jews. 2. To include the gentiles in salvation. Christ came and fulfilled these longstanding promises. He has shown that he is trustworthy. THEN the passage goes on to say that we need to trust him so that we can overflow with hope and joy. Who are we to hold ourselves back from the good, joy-filled blessing of hope that God has for us?

Lord, help us to trust you and grow in joy, peace and hope by your Holy Spirit. Amen

Written by Megan Cornell