Sunday, February 24, 2013

Can we get "more" hope? Romans 15-16


Romans 15:13
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Apparently, we can "abound" in hope.   Most believers probably can relate to the concept of abounding in Love ... or, abounding in Faith.    But, what is the concept of abounding in Hope?   The first thing we should note about this concept is that whatever it is and however it is accomplished in our lives it is completely God who makes it happen.   Paul's prayer in this little expression calls for two members of the trinity to make our abounding in hope happen:  The God of hope and the power of the Holy Spirit.  So, we need to get out of the thought that having an abundance is something WE do.   Having an abundance of anything spiritual is up to God and His work in our lives.   Another aspect we see in this brief prayer of Paul is that the word abundance has no limit.  There is no measuring line in the concept of the Greek word.   We don't "arrive" at this hope of abundance.  Rather we are constantly gaining what God is producing.    In our society we think in limits.  In God's work of sanctification He only thinks of movement toward holiness.     The last truth to read from this verse is that God seems to supply joy and peace, which enables hope to flourish.  Apparently, God fills us with joy and peace (fruits of the Spirit) and that allows the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to abound in hope.  As God fills us with joy and peace we have an understanding that God is at work and in control.   That gives us hope of what God can do, is doing, and will, yet, do.    God is working in our lives to produce hope so that we see that God is the reason for our hope, not our own strength, outlook or skill set.   Hope is a gift of God (like Love and Faith).   Hope is through the power of the Spirit.  

1 comment:

  1. Great verse and commentary. Just heard a message by a pastor that reflected partially on in joy. Thus would have shed some extra insight. Thanks for th e blog. Enjoy ut every day

    ReplyDelete

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