Got Hope?

Like Truth, like faith, like all that is noble, hope emanates from outside ourselves. Our society is in the throws of turmoil because too many of us wish to own those things that are beyond our individual selves. In the core of our beings we know that we do not have the capability of owning the transcendent. Therefore segments of our society want erase the transcendent in order to simulate the ownership of it.

Both the Bible and the Constitution offer pointed examples. They are flash points for many in our society. Why?

Both are self-contained. The Bible admonishes its readers and preachers to neither add nor subtract from God’s Word. The Constitution requires the gargantuan task of procuring a hefty margin of agreement among the citizenry to modify its contents.

I believe within the Bible is a miracle. A sacred document, it’s more than the words on the page. Through the faith I have in Jesus Christ, there is life within its pages. Without faith, the Spirit of God won’t be detected in His Word. Because God is the same today as yesterday and will be tomorrow, His Word stands firm as given.

The Constitution is a wondrous document but its words are not imbued with Spirit of God. There is no miracle contained in its pages, yet it touches an untold number of lives. There is no admonition to not change it. It is a testament to the wisdom and experience of its drafters that in recognizing the possible need for future modification, they did their utmost to insure the core would hold.

Both have the power to convict—the Bible of sin and the Constitution of trespass. Both have the power to save—you cannot have one without the other. Forgiveness is the crux of faith and salvation. Victims made whole by perpetrators bearing the toll should save both if justice reigns.

Forgiveness and justice are imperfect in this world. In the Bible and the Constitution, we find the hope to reach for perfection. The knowing that evil will be held to account and we are, and will continue to be protected, germinate into hope. Our anticipation of the perfect strengthens our resolve to stand firm and weather the assailments and afflictions of evil.

Yet, it seems that this very hope is what ignites the flash point of so many in our society. From the ancient idol worshipers of Baal to the modern atheist and the power brokers of today our hope has been their target for destruction. Why? What is it about hope that scares these people so much?

Both the Bible and the Constitution exhort us (in so many words) that Hope lives in us when we say what we mean, when we mean what we say, and when we do what we say.

Without hope, the Gospel is not preached and your enemy as well as your neighbor is denied your love.

Without hope, our society shall never become a more perfect union and the Blessing of liberty becomes the survival of the ruthlessly devious.

Without hope, freedom does not exist.

Without hope, faith does not exist.

Say what you mean. Mean what you say. Practice what you preach. Demand it of yourself and every person that touches your life. Let hope reign.