"Hope Is Spelled J E S U S"

Most of my teen and adult life I believed that God was angry at me because of my spiritual and moral failures so I struggled with faith. That assumption probably was not something I was taught by my family but something I learned sitting on a church pew. That was a long time and many miles ago so my memory is likely a bit fuzzy. However, if I heard much teaching about grace, love, mercy etc. from God, I honestly cant recall. Mostly I remember how God hates sin so much he cannot look upon those of us who fail to keep every detail of his laws and expectations. Its that old mantra from James that if you offend God in just one point of his law you are judged guilty of ignoring all of it. (James 2:10)

MAN, AM I GRATEFUL FOR JESUS!!!

Hope is important to me today. Hope has given me the will to keep on trying to serve God better even though I fail now and then. Hope keeps my faith anchored to someone greater than me and my feeble attempts at loving God with ALL my heart, soul, mind and strength. Hope gives me the courage to reach out to others whose lives aren't working and they open one wrong door after another in a desperate search for answers. Hope allows me to forgive myself for my weaknesses and failures because hope also motivates me to get up and try again with the confidence that I can do it better.

Saul of Tarsus learned the same thing I have learned and Paul the Apostle said it better than I ever can:
"And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. AND HOPE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT US because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us." Romans 5:2-3 NIV

I cant actually point to the day or even the year that I finally got fed up with the disappointing brand of "once saved, never really saved" that I had embraced and taught for so many years. The realization just gradually dawned on me that I couldn't embrace it or teach it any longer.  So I quit!

I now realize that all those years I had overlooked, neglected and just dismissed these words:
"God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have NOW BEEN JUSTIFIED BY HIS BLOOD, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!" Romans 5:8-9 NIV

Jesus didn't die on the cross because of God's anger at me but because of God's great love for me EVEN while I was still and am still a sinner. I fear there are multitudes upon multitudes of good people who still live in the same fear I did most of my early adult life. Please don't mistake God's grace for unconditional forgiveness. His forgiveness has always been and always will be clearly conditional. However the hope he has given me in Jesus NEVER disappoints. The Holy Spirit is our guarantee. HALLELUJAH!