Now Abides Faith and Hope

My son is with Homeland Security and just completed four months of advanced training. At his recent graduation, the speaker said, “Hope is not a survival strategy.” We Christians talk much of hope. To hear it spoken in a negative context got my attention. So I thought through it again. Paul wrote, “Hope that is seen is not hope” (Rom. 8:24). The writer of Hebrews added, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). So while we hope in the unseen, we prepare within the context of the visible. That’s why a visible profession of faith in Christ is necessary for eternal life in heaven (also called “the blessed hope” in Titus 2:13). You can’t simply “hope” to go to heaven. You’ve got to prepare by taking a step of visible faith. You can’t simply hope to live a Christian life. You’ve got to employ discipline. If hope is not a survival strategy, what is? Faith is. Faith in your preparation, your plan of survival. For the Christian, faith in Jesus Christ, who has done for us, all that we cannot do for ourselves.

Join me in praying for the following global concerns:
• Pray for Ignatius as he speaks at a camp in Cyprus on August 7-17.
• Pray for those who minister to the more than 200,000 Greek Cypriots who have settled in the major cities of England.
• Pray for those who are ministering in the aftermath of flooding that killed more than 1,400 people and affected at least 3 million more in northwest Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan.
• RAMADAN (the holy month of fasting in Islam) begins this week on August 11. Pray for those who minister among Muslims.
• Pray for Rich, Suzanne, Craig & Ellen as they prepare to minister during the upcoming school year at the University of British Columbia.