Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)
Our faith in Jesus transfers God’s righteousness to us and he now declares us flawless in his eyes. This means we can now enjoy true and lasting peace with God, all because of what our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, has done for us. Our faith guarantees us permanent access into this marvelous kindness that has given us a perfect relationship with God. What incredible joy bursts forth within us as we keep on celebrating our hope of experiencing God’s glory! But that’s not all! Even in times of trouble we have a joyful confidence, knowing that our pressures will develop in us patient endurance. And patient endurance will refine our character, and proven character leads us back to hope. And this hope is not a disappointing fantasy, because we can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us! (Romans 5:1-5; TPT)
We are told to rejoice in hope because our future is in heaven. The glory of God is breaking into our world and will testify to how good and great God is. There is a cycle we have to go through with God. He allows hardships, so we learn to trust Him. That creates the endurance we need so that character forms appropriately in the trials. As our character increases, we realize that God is our source of life and hope springs up. God does great things in us while bad things are happening to and around us. We must endure the tribulation we are facing because it produces patience, which then creates the character, which develops into hope in our lives. This is the end goal: hope the fuels our souls for the battles ahead.
Hope is God’s best. If we have hope, we are in the process of having His character development in our lives. When we have hope when things aren’t going well, we have developed character, endurance, Christlikeness, and hopefulness. Why? Anyone can tell you what’s wrong with their life. Christlike people tell you how God is working to make things better through the pain. The amount of hope we have shows the measure of character we have.Â
For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance (Romans 8:24-25).
Unfortunately, this generation honors cynicism and pessimism. They honor those that point out the bad, the ugly, and the flawed things in life. God honors character and perseverance. He honors those that possess and dispense hope to others. When we can give hope while in our own storms, we have developed character.
Hope doesn’t disappoint because God doesn’t let us down. People might disappoint us, but God doesn’t. The love of God ensures that hope won’t disappoint. God’s love brings new hope. Hope is easy when we know that we are loved. The more love we encounter from God, the more hope we will have in our lives. With God abides, “faith, hope, love, these three” (1 Cor. 13:13). When we walk in hope, we walk in love. When we live with hope, we find our lives becoming more stable because “[t]his hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast…” (Heb. 6:19).
