“Faith is the substance of things hoped for…” (Hebrews 1:1 KJV). What things are you hoping for? I come from several generations of school teachers. If your mother was anything like mine, she reminded you never to end a sentence with a dangling preposition, such as “hoping for.” So let’s ask the question another way: “For what things are you hoping?” The King James Version completes the verse: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” There’s a mysterious element, an “unseen” aspect to this thing called hope.
According to my “big fat Greek Bible,” the word elpis, translated as “hope,” describes an “inner, psychological sense of hope” and defines it as “confidence, eager anticipation, expectation, longing, or aspiration of the heart.”*
That’s a big hope—a risky, audacious brand of hope. I don’t see a lot of “high hope” these days. People seem guarded. Cautious. Afraid to “get their hopes up.” I don’t know about you, but I am more afraid of low-level living–without this kind of daring hope–than I am of falling from the cliff of high hopes.
Let’s ponder the question one more time: What are you hoping for? Let the thought roll around in your mind. Take it to the Lord and ask: “Lord, is this hope from you?” Then, over the next few days, seek Him with your whole heart. Watch. Listen. Spend time in His Word. Share your hope or dream with a wise friend.
Remember. Hope is hard. It calls for courage. It’s costly and requires constant filling by the Holy Spirit. Over the years, I have learned that to hold onto a high hope, you have to stay close to Jesus.
But with a God-given hope, the sticking power of the Holy Spirit, the affirmation of God’s Word, and a few good friends, nothing is too good to be true. And nothing is too hard for God.
* The Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, NIV version, Spiros Zhodiates, ThD. Editor, (AMG publishers), is my personal favorite Bible ever!
marilynn chadwick 
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