Everlasting Hope

Where Is Your Hope?

Nathele Graham

This beautiful hymn, “My Hope Is Built”, was written by Edward Mote, a cabinet maker and pastor. The words came to him as he wanted to write a hymn about the joy of Christianity. He wrote them down, then put them in his pocket. Later he visited a friend whose wife was very ill and wanted to see Brother Mote. During the visit the words were read to the woman, who took great comfort in them. We never know what twists and turns life will take, but the hope we have in Jesus Christ makes every bad time easier to bear, and every good time even better. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:3-5. If you’ve placed your hope and faith in anything but Jesus Christ, then you have no hope. The worries of the world will overwhelm you with despair. Christians have hope of everlasting life, so no matter what befalls us today, our eternity is secure.

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

No matter what happens in this life, if you’ve accepted the blood of Christ for salvation, you can stand firmly upon the fact that your sins are forgiven and your true home is with Him eternally. If you’re facing overwhelming fear because of the happenings in the world, be of good courage. He is your hope. Maybe you’ve had some bad news about your health, or you’ve lost your job, or your marriage is in trouble, whatever storm you’re facing, remember His promise to you. “He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:11-13. If you believe in Him, then you’ve been adopted into His family. Don’t despair or feel overwhelmed with fear. Trust Jesus to see you through. Hope in Him is never misplaced.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

Are you listening for that trumpet? “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-52. Many people die each day, and many of them had rejected Christ. They placed their hope in good works or some false god that cannot give everlasting life. Their hope was in vain. Only we who have accepted the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for salvation have the hope and assurance of eternal life. Not everyone will die. Very soon we’ll hear the trumpet sound and find ourselves standing before our precious Redeemer who shed His blood for our salvation. Only righteous people can stand before God, but nobody is righteous. We are all sinners who are far from good, let alone righteous. It’s not our own righteousness that gives us the hope of eternal life. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Romans 3:23-26. Only faith in Christ imparts His righteousness to you and to me. Only faith in Him will allow us into Heaven.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

Where have you placed your hope? Is it in a mere mortal man, is it in your own good works (which are nothing more than filthy rags in the eyes of God), or is your hope in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;” 2 Corinthians 1:9-10.

I stand on Christ, the solid Rock. How about you?

God bless you all,

Nathele Graham