Full of Hope!

One of the most important characteristics of a full and abundant life is the presence of hope. Having hope for the future is what makes life possible today. Without hope, people tend to find it difficult to see the significance of the events they experience from day to day. For them, life contains nothing to look forward to, nothing to get excited about. Life just becomes one dull moment after another. This is why a good biblical definition of hope is "the expectation of something good."

John Maxwell tells the story of a businessman whose shop was destroyed in the great Chicago fire of 1871. When the man arrived at the ruins of his store the next morning, he brought with him a simple table. He set it up amid the charred debris and above it placed his optimistic sign: "Everything lost except wife, children and hope. Business will be resumed as usual tomorrow morning!" Just think of it, he lost everything except his family and his hope. Extraordinary, isn't it? To think that a man could lose everything and still rise in hope and expectation is quite astonishing. And yet, where does such hope come from? The Scriptures say, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'" (Jer. 29:11). May we experience this hope today!