Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works (Hebrews 10:23-24).

It’s interesting that I came to this passage today. For it’s practically my life verse. It also happens to be the Scripture in the bulletin for my local church this Sunday.

What does it mean to hold unswervingly to something? You could state that in another way, something like this: “Let us grab on as tight as we possibly can.”

Hope is a very important thing to possess in our lives. The Scriptures say that hope, faith and love are the only things that will remain. Granted, love will always be the greatest of the three, but hope is right up there! That tells me that its a vital part of our Christian walk.

Someone once told me that, “Without hope there is no faith, and without faith it is impossible to love.” I never really understood what they meant, but in recent years I’ve been learning the meaning of her message. It was my mother who told me that. I believe she was saying that the three form a continuous circle in our lives. It starts with a slight nudge of the heart that tell us, “There’s something more out there.” Then that nudge begins to grow and we begin to believe that there is something more. After that, the nudge is so big that we can’t help but form an attachment to God . . . a belief in Him.  This is where we begin to love. Finally, because of that love, we find ourselves hoping for even more, believing that more exists and ultimately faith gives us the ability to love even more.

So, hope is the start of it all! Once we have hope and begin to hold on to it, we learn to grow deeper in faith and in love for the God we serve. He has promised us many things, and He simply wants us to believe that He can provide what He’s promised. Along the way, we’re challenged to encourage one another in love and in good deeds. By doing that, we open the door widely for God to move in our hearts and to help us grow. He loves it when we encourage others, and those we encourage like it too—whether they admit it or not. 🙂

Our lives can be full of despair and trials of many shapes and sizes. But when we hold on to the hope God has promised, we’ll get through them and be better off because of what we’ve faced. Hold on to hope.   —submitted by Matthew J. Elliott, US