Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Romans 5 v2-5

Every so often I come back to the theme of hope. Not the anemic hope that the world offers – fleeting and insubstantial. But the one that is true, lasting, and shines through whatever circumstances we face. The hope that is within us, carried in these jars of clay, given substance and life by the One who loves us, who drew us out of the pit of our own despair into His perfect light.

We have no more need to try harder. To do more. To build a world where we are our own gods, as if we could ever build the palaces of our own happiness.

No, all that came to an end with the words “It is Finished“. The sacrifice, once for all, was made. The darkness that clouds our eyes, hiding God, was once and for all swept away. And nothing has been the same since.

So when the world whispers to you, ‘no hope’, whisper back, ‘Jesus is my hope’. That is the one hope that will never fail.