We Live In Hope.

Php 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 

Why did Jesus, why did a God take on flesh and live in a world of sin and sinners? Most people would answer that Jesus did that so He could save us. Jesus sacrificed Himself when He of all humans did not deserve to die. Jesus tasted the agonies of death, the full separation from His declared Father and knew the darkness of non-existence. Jesus did that so all who would accept His sacrifice would never need know the full separation from God, the declared Father. The people who would answer in this way would be correct. Jesus made a sacrifice of Himself because of the love that He is, and the love that He has for His creatures. Jesus did not want there to be hopelessness in the earthly life of His creatures. Jesus wanted to bring the good news to His creatures. That good news was and is, that they have hope. Hope for what? Hope for the kingdom of heaven, hope for eternity in love with God the Father and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  The hope, the exact same hope Jesus personally came to earth to give to His creatures is the same hope spoken of after mankind's fall into sin. The sin creature would suffer a fatal blow.

Gen 3:14  And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 

Gen 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. 

This was hope given to the first pair of sinners.  They weren't to be left without hope and throughout history we've been given hope.

The prize we reach for, that which Jesus calls us to hope for is real. Heaven is not a gift given to each person upon their birth, or even their conception. We are not guaranteed a place in heaven. There are the wicked who will never see heaven, who have no home in heaven at all. Just writing that was a tiny bit contrary to me, I want everyone to have the hope of heaven. In truth, everyone does have that HOPE, but not all are going to avail themselves of the hope and this is a fact. Heaven is attainable through Christ Jesus our Savior, this is the hope we have.  Jesus would have us deliver this hope through our lives to others. We have a hope we long for, and Jesus has given us this hope. We strive for a prize even as we comprehend it is a journey fraught with dangers. We are not without sin, we are with hope. We despise sin with all our being even as it calls to us with its seductive tones unique to us all trying to capture us and turn us from our hope. We will die daily to our sin, and rise daily in the hope of Christ and His perfection.

We must don our spiritual armor as we war against principalities and powers, rulers of darkness, unseen foes who wield their wickedness in the most unexpected sinister deceptive ways. Around every corner, each turn, every step we take we are walking on the enemy's ground but we do have ARMOR. We do have a WEAPON. We do have a SHIELD. These are our protection from being drawn away from the hope, from the path, from the race, from our goal which is to live for our God, to live for our Savior, to live with the Holy Spirit.

Battles will occur and we can't make the mistake of thinking the battle means we are without hope.  The battle happens because we have hope. Is it any wonder Paul could proclaim that he counted it all joy when he was in battle against the spiritual forces arrayed against him? The joy came from knowing he was fighting for the prize and that meant hope of attaining the prize. Where there is defeat in this race there is despair, there is no hope, there is a giving up, a surrender to evil. Where there is hope we fight on, and on, and on clinging to the cross of our Savior, knowing He fought this battle and He won!

As we are apprehended of Christ Jesus we apprehend hope in Him. We live in hope. All by HIS grace and love!