Hopes

By Ed Allard, Minister, Monticello Church of Christ
What are your hopes in this life? The hopes of life are many.

However, there is one most important hope of all to have. We will get to that in a minute.

What our hopes in this life are vary depending on our nationality, our status in life, our sex, our age, our health, our attitudes and many other variables.

For example, in many countries at the present time, the biggest hope of most might be freedom and peace, while for others in their own country or in a neighboring country, it might be to control those who long for freedom and peace.

In our own country, many have the hope that the government will take care of them, from the cradle to the grave. The majority recognize the value of the opportunity to provide for themselves to the best of their ability, unhindered by government.

It seems also that a very vocal minority want to rid our country of all vestiges of the public expressions of religion. That seems to be their fondest hope.

If one is a young child, their hope might very well be that their parents could some how just get along so they could have both a mommy and a daddy. If one is a young man, his hope might be to have a car of his own. If one is a young lady, her hope might be to meet her “Prince Charming.”

All who have not given into despair because of illnesses have a hope of recovering. The desire for good health is a major desire, and perhaps even a vague, faint hope. Many hope for a good job, a nice house, etc.

As you might have noticed, many use the word “hope” to mean nothing more than their desires, their wants. That is the way the majority of people who consider themselves“religious” use the word.

And so, statisticians report to us that the majority of Americans who consider themselves believers in God and Christ have what they believe is “the hope of heaven.” This includes Sunday morning only church goers, once a year goers and those who never go.

That is a misconception of the word hope, however. The synonym for hope is expect. The proper use of the word is that of a want coupled with an expectation; desire accompanied by expectation. This is the Bible use of the word hope also.

The one most important hope that a person can have is a proper hope of heaven. No greater hope can be had in this life. To be unable to have such a hope is to die hopeless, without being able to truly, properly expect to go to heaven.

The only way of knowing how to have such a hope is through God’s word in the New Testament. It is not the least bit amazing how many people take what someone tells them about the matter when we realize how many people rely on others that know absolutely nothing more about common, ordinary things, that they do themselves. And I could here, insert, “Right, ________?” Could your name be inserted there?

I don’t know of a single church that teaches that a person will go to heaven based on their being just good, or even doing good and being sincere, honest and moral. The only reason then that so many people believe this is because of their reliance upon their own thoughts, the thoughts of others who know no better than they do, and their lack of knowledge of the New Testament.

God wants all to have the hope of heaven. That’s why He sent Jesus to die for our sins. That’s why He gave us His revelation of how to go to heaven in the New Testament. Folks, don’t just own a Bible, read it.

See what the New Testament says to you.
You can read it completely though without great effort in about four weeks. The books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts give the heart of the message of how to get to heaven and can all be read in about two weeks.

If you would like a reading schedule, give me a call at 706-468-8499. I’ll get it to you promptly.