Jesus Turns Your Hopeless End Into Endless Hope: Despite the imputation of vacillation, dishonesty, and fickleness that he endured from others, Paul loved the Corinthians dearly. He delayed his trip to visit them for their sakes.
He wanted to be able to bring them the most suitable comfort for their current condition. He is able to do so by connecting Christian suffering to the sufferings of Christ.
God’s Unfailing Love
The Bible is filled with examples of God’s steadfast, unfailing love for His people. This is a major theme in the Psalms.
It’s a theme Jesus taught. He emphasized that God wants to bless His followers, but they must live in ways that allow Him to do so. This includes focusing on loving Him and obeying His commands, which are key to hope.
As you immerse yourself into the Scripture, search for verses that speak of the Lord’s enduring love for you. Meditate on them. Think about them often, especially when you’re feeling anxious. It’s a reminder that His love is more powerful than any other, and it is never-ending. In fact, Pr 13:12 tells us that “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when it comes to pass, it revives the soul” (see the NLT translation). His love is like nothing you’ll ever experience. And it’s the reason that Christians can endure any hardship.
God’s Power
Whenever God’s power is mentioned in the Bible, it is typically in the context of miracles or signs and wonders. But in nine out of ten times that Luke uses the word, it is linked to his explanation of Christ’s resurrection (Luke 24:49). And Jesus tells His disciples in Acts 1:8 that they will receive “power [dunamis] after My Spirit has come upon you.”
This same power secures your final salvation and your place in God’s kingdom. It also enables you to navigate the difficulties of this life in a calm and victorious manner.
Remember that the God who feeds sparrows knows your every need and will provide for you. So, stay close to Him and rely on His power to bring you through each trial and tribulation. Solomon wrote that hope deferred makes the heart sick but desire fulfilled revives it (Proverbs 13:12). Trust in God’s power! He will help you endure the trials of this life and bring about a blessed eternity with Him.
God’s Grace
When God rescued Adam and Eve from the garden, He did it by His grace—the gift of life without disease, death, heartbreak, and separation from Him. This grace was the foundation for His plan to redeem humanity so that all people could experience the resurrected life His Son Jesus would one day provide.
The Bible says, “By grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). When Paul writes, “by grace you have been saved,” he means that everyone who believes in Christ receives salvation. This includes tax collectors, sinners, Samaritans, and slaves—people who the world despises and hates.
What makes this grace so amazing is that it is not something God gives or takes away, but it’s His very nature—the state of being gracious (pity, mercy, compassion, and liberal giving). He is simply gracious. This is the reason why King David proclaimed, “The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm 145:8).
God’s Faithfulness
One of God’s rich character attributes that He reveals to us in the Bible is His faithfulness. The word “faithful” (Hebrew emuna) refers to lasting loyalty and trustworthiness.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, the term faithfulness often describes God’s covenant loyalty to His people. For example, Psalm 36:5 states that God’s faithfulness reaches to the heavens and his covenant with those who fear him is for ever (infinite).
Another way of speaking about this attribute is in terms of the vastness of His creation; He is as faithful to His promises as the size of the universe is large.
The faithfulness of God should be the primary motivation for our faith-response to His gospel message. However, it is important to understand that God’s faithfulness does not remove the necessary volitional element of our acceptance of His salvation message. He is a gracious, sovereign, and just God who demands that we accept His free gift of salvation through Christ.
