If you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. Col 1:23
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Col 1:27
I know there is a sunrise every morning. There are many days that I miss its glorious peak over the row of trees to the East of my house. The view is different every day. I know this even if I don’t watch.
Sometimes there are different colors that come into view that might not have shown the day before. Depending on the clouds, it may not be as visible but with a clear sky it is a painting that cannot be matched. It wins my heart every time and reminds me of the painter who painted it. He creates a fresh beauty every morning at sunrise whether I decide to witness its splendor or not.
Many days, I forgetfully perch on my couch with my cup of coffee as I try to wake. Or am busily preparing for the day ahead. Meanwhile, the magnificence proceeds without my notice. That’s the honest truth about many things in my life.
I regularly miss the beauty.
It’s easy to forget to appreciate what is ours to enjoy. It’s easy to not value what is valuable. To not cherish the significance. I frequently consider and meditate on the lesser of import and the small details that fade within days or weeks.
This is the constant lesson in life. To see what cannot be seen with the eyes. To value what cannot fade with the passing of time. The pieces of life the sun’s rays do not touch.
Today I’m tired.
It’s hard to see beyond the detail and the small things.
Hope rests on tasks getting done and the farther future.
Not the present. The present looks a little drab.
Day dreaming is every so kind to the present. It takes us past the drab to “the more” of things to come.
Here is the pattern caught in its loop.
The hope of TOMORROW removes the beauty of TODAY.
The body is in the present but it is as if our minds have already pressed skip.
Knowing this doesn’t mean we can easily change it.
If we know but continue to proceed as usual without serious work to change our pattern, the cycle will always repeat.
The hope in OUR OWN efforts to thwart this cycle is misplaced. Mental gymnastics in our minds that seek to produce self powered change are a rocky road to true transformation.
The real change comes when we hope in THE HOPE itself. And hope comes from belief. The belief that HE is our hope.
The belief that there is value in this very moment. It has already been ordained and seen by the One above.
The only time that is sacred is the present.
The present is the only time at which heaven can touch earth and life can spring forth from its nurturing beam.
Not the past.
Not the future.
Only now.
The past is a fog and a mist. The future is unclear and intangible. The now is solid. It is real. And it is yours if you desire to lay hold of it.
It is the only place where our power and authority in Him resides to live for His kingdom and His name. The now is the only place at which relationship with Him and others truly exists. The now is the only place where our calling can be lived out.
Where do you live?
How is YOUR NOW working for you?
Do you base YOUR LIFE on your past?
Do you base YOUR LIFE on things to come?
Now is the only time where we can LIVE and MOVE and have BEING in Him.
Where we can hear His voice and live in the light of His glory and grace.
It is the BIGGEST TEMPTATION to live somewhere other than the now.
It steals our precious time and destiny out from under our very noses.
It is satan’s biggest hope and our biggest devastation to never live present to our current purpose within this very day, at this very second.
No matter how small this second is. It is precious. It can remain empty or it can be full to the brim. If only we can choose to let our presence reside within it.
There is something about having hope and belief for this moment. It bears fruit in our lives.
It’s the difference between something happening on accident or with purpose.
Purpose creates meaning.
“Meaning to” creates fruit.
The actual act of hoping in the hope within us bears fruit in our external lives. This internal choice translates to the external present moment. That’s when the amazing happens and the beauty is seen. Our eyes are opened to His glory in our lives.
The act of hoping in our hope changes our very minds so that we are then capable of bearing fruit in our present in ways that never would have been possible before.
The faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. Col 1:5-6
It says in this passage that faith and love spring from the hope within us. Luckily it doesn’t have to do at all with US actually “storing” it. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your savior. We already have the “hope” stored within us.
It is just a matter of turning off our false hopes of the past, future, or present temporary distractions and accessing the hope that actually bears fruit.
THIS is the work of a christian. To learn to discontinue our habitual path towards false hope so we can always receive the real and genuine hope that is ours already by inheritance.
You have the hope residing within you. It is a hope that never fails. It is a hope that lives in this very moment and has something for you in the here and now.
Belief that IT ACTUALLY EXISTS and HE IS FOR YOU, accesses this hope that is stored.
Thankfully it is a storehouse with limitless resources from which we can receive from time and time again.
Live here in the now. Believe in the hope that resides within you.
Heaven is touching earth at this moment.
Can you see?
Can you feel Him?
He is here.
Be present to Him.
Your hope will abound beyond measure.