Hope Based on Faith
Romans 4:13-25, Mark 8:31-38.
Along with the rest of the world, we in Australia are, at this time, placing our faith in Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca to beat the covid pandemic.
This faith enables us to look forward to a time beyond the threats and restrictions that we have had to live under for the last twelve months.
Faith gives us confidence to look forward to what is to come. It was faith that enabled Abraham to continue to look forward to the realization of God’s
promise when everything seemed set against it – the promise that he should be the father of a great nation.
Faith in God who spoke to the world in Jesus and raised him from the dead is the basis on which we look forward to what is to come. Through faith in
Christ, we look forward to lives lived in joyful union with God in this life and beyond. As impossible as it seems, we look forward to humanity being freed
from the shackles of evil and living by the light of God’s love or, in other words, living in the kingdom of God.
By faith in God, we dare now to live the life of God’s future realm – a realm of peace, justice, integrity and goodness. By faith in God, we live now as
people who are forgiven and reconciled to God, called and committed.
• Can you think of occasions when your hope grew out of faith?
EG: your hope for a safe arrival at the end of a journey was based on your faith in the driver.
• What does Romans 4:23-24 have to say about the relationship between grace and faith?
• What hopes do you have on the basis of your faith in Christ?
• Mark 8:31-38 indicates that living this life of faith and hope is not easy.
What in this passage strikes you most forcefully?