But in your hearts set Christ apart [as holy—acknowledging Him, giving Him first place in your lives] as Lord. Always be ready to give a [logical] defense to anyone who asks you to account for the hope and confident assurance [elicited by faith] that is within you, yet [do it] with gentleness and respect. 1 Peter 3:15
Yesterday was the first day of Advent with the theme this week of hope. “Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air…but only for one second without hope.” In today’s English and though hope is little more than a wish or desire that may or may not happen. But that is very weak compared to the biblical definition of it, that speaks of a God given gift of strength and confidence of receiving what we are expecting.
Both the Old and New Testaments speak of hope. In the Old it is the word Tiq’vah which means, to gather together, wait for or to bind by twisting together. This is a beautiful word picture that God paints for us, that in the waiting we are not alone, when we bind ourselves to Him we then live off His strength and sustaining power. We are never alone, He is always there to sustain, encourage and comfort us.
In the Greek the word is elpis, which means, to trust, to expect good, in other words the confident expectation and hope we will receive what we are looking for. Now we are not only celebrating the arrival of our Savior Jesus, but His second coming when He will set up His kingdom here on earth. This confirms today’s verse that this hope isn’t just a concept, it is a part of who we are. This is because Jesus Himself is our hope and when we’re in a relationship with Him then His Holy Spirit lives within us.
Just like when Jesus first came into a corrupt. hurting and dark world as a baby who needed hope, so do we now. But we’re not waiting for the hope of the Messiah to come with His Salvation, we are now the hope to show the world our Savior and Lord. This Advent season, be the door to hope that so many people are searching for and need.
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