HOPE AND LOVE IN THE HEART

“Now HOPE does not disappoint, because the LOVE of God has been poured out in our HEARTS by the HOLY SPIRIT who was given to us” – Romans 5:5

This Season of Christ’s Resurrection accentuates the import of HOPE and LOVE in the HEART: “Now HOPE does not disappoint, because the LOVE of God has been poured out in our HEARTS by the HOLY SPIRIT who was given to us” (Rom.5:5). 1 Corinthians 13:13a says, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three…” Faith, Hope, and Love are three Keystones of Christianity. We’ve learned that Faith is of the heart. Here, we confirm that Hope and Love are also heart-based.

Focusing on the benefits of Justification by Faith, Romans 5 concludes that when believers are justified and declared righteous, we have peace with God. Justification means we are acquitted of guilt, find peace, and have a right relationship with God through faith in Christ’s death and resurrection. However, being in right relationship with God does not exempt us from trials. Just as His grace is necessary for us to be declared righteous, godly suffering is necessary to give us strength to press on. Nevertheless, we can be sure that God is with us through it all. Tribulation produces perseverance, which produces proven character, and in turn, Hope that never disappoints, because the LOVE of God has been poured out in our HEARTS by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (v.5).

Hope is the assurance that what we believe will happen. Someone has called it, Spiritual Confidence. We have such confidence because what rests in our heart is more than just a wish, an emotion, or a belief. God Himself lives in and through us by His Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; 5:32). When we become Christians, Jesus poured the Holy Spirit upon us: “But when the kindness and the LOVE of God our Savior toward man appeared,  not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the HOLY SPIRIRT, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the HOPE of eternal life” (Tit.3:4-7).  

The Holy Spirit is God’s Gift to us: “Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the GIFT of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

The Holy Spirit cleanses and sanctifies us: “But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1Cor.6:11b).

The Holy Spirit makes us part of the Body of Christ: “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit” (1Cor.12: 12-13).

The Holy Spirit lives inside us: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1Cor.6: 19-20).

Prime among the blessings of God’s Indwelling Presence are His LOVE and HOPE. Initially, “God demonstrates HIS OWN LOVE toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (v.8). This same Love keeps being poured refreshingly upon us through the Holy Spirit (Jh.7: 37-39). As we endure and mature through tribulations, God’s Love becomes the pedestal for our Hope. His Unlimited Love assures that our Faith is real, not fake; and that our Hope has not been built on sinking sand! God pours His Love into our heart so that the fruit of His Grace may flow from us, causing everyone around us to know and partake of His Grace.