HOPE: The future is more important than the past

“Take and eat, this is my body…This is my blood, poured out for you.” Luke 22:26-28

We need hope as much as we need breath. Hope expresses our desires, for ourselves and others. And it is the gateway to faith.
Hope lives in the present with us. We don’t hope for past circumstances to change, we don’t plan to begin hoping at some future point. Yet hope is all about the future.

When Jesus shared his last meal with his disciples, he changed the focus from looking back to the ancient Passover to focusing on the future when he would be present with his disciples and with us in Holy Communion. Passover commemorates God’s deliverance from sin and death and is worthy of remembrance and celebration. But God is always making things new and in Holy Communion, we are powerfully reminded that God is with us in our present and future – whatever our situation.

Hope allows us to see beyond and move beyond our present circumstances and it is a gift from God. Hope can motivate us to change a habit or achieve a goal that makes for a better life for ourselves or others. And it is a comfort when we wish better things for loved ones but recognize they must also want and work toward those outcomes.

Hope fosters faith by kindling in us a desire for a closer relationship with Jesus. We must want before we can act. We can’t work ourselves or think ourselves into faith – that is the work of the Holy Spirit. Yet we can answer God’s call to spend more time in worship, Bible study, prayer and fellowship with other Christians whose faith can nurture ours.

The past is important. But today and tomorrow is where we live and where God wants us to love, serve and seek him. The season of Lent is the perfect time to draw nearer to God by devoting more of ourselves to Him.

Gracious God, My hope is in you. This is all I need. Thank you. Amen.

This devotion is written by Cheryl Stubbendieck.

If you would like to serve as a member of the Sheridan Lutheran Writing Team and help to write devotions based on the text for the weekend, contact Amy Wagner.

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