Hope does not disappoint us.

Devotion based on Romans 5:5

Of all the different kinds of pain you and I can experience in life, the pain of disappointment crushing hope can be one of the worst. Examples from life? A parent tells you that you cannot go to the amusement park as planned. Your first romantic relationship comes to a heartbreaking end. Your dream of flourishing in a certain field does not come true. Your move to a new city does not pan out. A child with great promise grows up to make some destructive life decisions. Your retirement plans for years of travel disappear with a diagnosis.

Many times, the words “hope” and “disappointment” go together. That, of course, is a result of sin. Our sinfulness has shattered God’s good creation. Because it has, human hope can only be frail and uncertain at best. Human hope is only a thin wish that something good might happen, but disappointment is always ready to pounce, always ready to devour.

Enter Jesus. God the Son entered our time and space to confront the one thing that has spawned all disappointment. He came to confront our sin. In so doing, he replaced our uncertainties with the certainty of himself. As our substitute, he lived a life of perfect trust in his heavenly Father’s will. In our place, he took upon himself all our sins of doubt, sins of betrayal, neglect, and broken promises. For all these and more, he suffered and died.

Then, to give us the absolute certainty that he is who he claims to be and has done what he promised to do, Jesus rose from the dead. As a result, you and I now have a kind of hope we’ve never had before. Rather than some thin wish about something that may or may not happen, we now possess a hope that rests upon the crucified and risen Son of God himself. Through faith in Jesus, you and I have a sure hope that he will carry us through every difficulty. We have a sure hope that he will guide all things for our good and that eternal life in heaven is ours.

Disappointment, therefore, does not have the final word. Jesus does.

Prayer:

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