God commands his people to hope. To be sure, it’s only as He gives us hope that He commands us to hope, yet command us to hope He most certainly does. For this reason the mediaeval rabbis used to say that the arch sin is despair.
You Asked for a Sermon on Hope, March 1999, www.victorshepherd.on.ca.
You must have noticed that Scripture links faith, hope and love, and groups them together again and again. Hope is the middle term between faith and love. Hope keeps faith from collapsing under the burden of disappointment and delay. Hope keeps love from dissolving under the acids of frustration. Hope fortifies love and lends it resilience. Hope stiffens faith and forestalls collapse.
You Asked for a Sermon on Hope, March 1999, www.victorshepherd.on.ca.
Hope, from a biblical perspective, is a future certainty grounded in a present reality.
You Asked for a Sermon on Hope, March 1999, www.victorshepherd.on.ca.