Today’s 10-minute Tuesday post is about hope.
Without hope, I think we would live in despair. If we never thought that things would get any better, that we would always be sick, or in debt, or single, or in a bad marriage, then there would be very little reason for us to want to go on living.
We can hope for things that we will never get. When I was younger, and actually still often today, I hoped that I would be able to get a horse. I’ve always loved them. I’ve always wanted one. But we’ve never lived anywhere I could have one, nor have we had the finances to be able to keep one.
But still I hoped.
But that kind of hope seems different. It’s more like a wish. A desire. Something I really 
want but that I could live without.
There’s an old hymn that says “Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth; thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide. Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, blessings all mine with 10,000 beside” (“Great is They Faithfulness,” Thomas Chisolm and William Runyon, 1923).
“Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide.”
That’s hope. To know that Jesus is with us all the way giving us strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.
Our circumstances might never change, but we have the hope of heaven set before us. In Romans 5:3-5, Paul says, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character 
produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Oh, bright hope for tomorrow. One day at a time.
Don’t give up hope. Don’t give up on Jesus.
Horse photo is of Prince, by JacobRohrPhotography
Compelled 