Love - Full of Hope

Do you remember The Wish Book?  That really takes us back a few years, huh? I recall the day it arrived, and how nothing else was important on that day except flipping through the pages, wishing for way more than my parents would give me.  I wished and dreamed and fancied away hours until my parents must have wished the mail man hadn't run that day!

 

God is not something we dream, wish, or fancy about -- He is our hope.  We use that word loosely: I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow; I hope we win the ballgame; I hope the dog doesn't bark tonight.  Yet the psalmist wrote, "For Thou art my hope, O Lord God ... " (71:5)  There's no wishful thinking here; this is a declaration.  The Hebrew root for "hope" in this passage means to be bound & attached, the one thing lived for.  It is living with confident and definite expectation!  The Messiah arrived in quite a different manner than most of the world expected; they hoped for a ruler, perhaps a military leader.  It's no wonder few recognized Him when He arrived.  Even though many could not see who He was, He brought hope -- not wishes, dreams, or fancies.  He was Hope wrapped in swaddling clothes ... real hope -- hope twisted into the essence of every life who would call Him King.  The miracle of The Season is that same Hope which arrived in Bethlehem so long ago is our eternal hope today.  What kind of love is this?  Love -- Full of Hope.