Great Expectations

If you were told, with a unquestionable certainty, that you were going to receive a windfall of wealth in 5 years, how would it affect your life? You would start to think and plan for it!  That home you always wanted, now you would consider owning it. Now you would be able to generously support those ministries you which you care about. Conversations would be marked with references to that promise that would change your life. As the day approached, your anticipation of it would grow. The promise, though unrealized in the present, would have a real and visible impact on you.

Christian, we have a promise that is better than wealth and we will own the promise by God’s own word!  Peter wrote to the Christians who were going through hard times with this reminder. "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.” (1 Peter 1:3-6, NLT)

Is this hope real to you?
Is it fixed in your mind in such a way that it changes how you live?
Are you filled with great expectation?

Jesus returned to the theme of expectation and readiness repeatedly in His teaching.  God’s rule had been announced by His coming and would be fully realized at His return. That promise, He said, should cause those of us who love Him to live expectantly.  “Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready." (Luke 12:35-38, NLT)  The first part of the story was common knowledge to those who first heard it. Any good household servant knew that it was his responsibility to be prepared for the master’s arrival at home, no matter how late.  But, then Jesus turned the narrative upside down!  Servants who stood ready to welcome their master, thinking that they would have many things to do for him when he returned, instead found themselves seated and served by him!  It was an unthinkable turn of events.

But, that is what Jesus promises to us who live with great expectation, who continue steadily in His service.  One day He will return and welcome us home. There we will no longer serve, we will be served. Our work will be over and our welcome into the Father’s house rich, glorious, and beyond our imagination. So, Peter urges us to remember the promise and says, “be truly glad!”

Renew your hope in the Promise! Let the certain hope of eternal life bring joyful and steady discipleship to this day.  Here is a word from the Word. Love it. Live it. "Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure." (1 John 3:2-3, NLT)

__________

Anchor

I have this hope

As an anchor for my soul

Through ev'ry storm

I will hold to You

With endless love

All my fear is swept away

In ev'rything

I will trust in You

There is hope in the promise of the cross

You gave ev'rything to save the world You love

And this hope is an anchor for my soul

Our God will stand unshakable

Unchanging One

Who was and is to come

Your promise sure

You will not let go

Your Name is higher

Your Name is greater

All my hope is in You

Your word unfailing

Your promise unshaken

All my hope is in You

Ben Fielding | Dean Ussher

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Jerry D. Scott, Pastor

Faith Discovery Church

www.FaithDiscovery.com