The Bible Is God's Book Of Hope

One of the exciting occurrences on my grandparent’s farm in the 1940′s, was the arrival of the Montgomery Ward catalog. Often called the “Wish Book,” its pages were filled with images of items ranging from clothing and cookstoves to furniture and tools. The catalog’s warm, friendly tone seemed to invite folks to picture themselves as they lived, worked, and dressed at the time, and as they hoped to become.

Although the Bible is not a spiritual mail-order catalog, within its pages we vividly see ourselves both as we are today and as we hope to be in the future. The Bible certainly is God’s book of hope.

In Romans Chapter 5, Paul tells us that “we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2), “glory in tribulations” (Romans 5:3), and “rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:11). Even our present difficulties are an essential part of the process of becoming the people God wants us to be (cf. James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:5-7).

The Bible is far more than a book of wishful thinking; it is a book of well-founded confidence in God’s purpose and plan for us as Christians. Whatever we are like today, we know that in Christ we have a living hope (Colossians 1:26-27; 1 Timothy 1:1), and it will not end in disappointment (Matthew 16:15-16; Matthew 22:32).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets