Focus on Faith – “The Reason for Our Hope” – Rev. Nancy Claus, Chaplain, Porter Hills

My husband’s favorite word is HOPE. Tom skillfully interjects this short, four-letter word into our many conversations when we gather as a family. He shares that HOPE is a gift; when it arrives, despair departs. HOPE pierces the darkness. 

Within Holy Scripture no word is more beautifully descriptive of the Gospel of Jesus Christ than HOPE; with its assurance, trust and expectation. Christian HOPE is never merely wishful thinking or a consoling dream of our imagination; it is ever grounded on the Divine act of salvation accomplished in Jesus Christ. 

We live in precarious times. We turn on the news, we read the newspaper, we listen to others as they discuss timely events, and we wonder, we are concerned, our imaginations run wild. 

The Apostle Paul writes of the HOPE to which we’ve been called; the HOPE laid up for us in heaven; our glorious HOPE, our good HOPE; and the HOPE of eternal life. 

Let us strive to live with HOPE every single day. Why? Because it brings comfort to our aching souls; it preserves, it persuades and enables us to prevail. 

“His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is His faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23).