Fresh Bread March 19: The Audacity of Hope*

And so faith, hope, love abide [faith–conviction and belief respecting man’s relation to God and divine things; HOPE–joyful and confident expectation…; love–true affection for God and man, growing out of God’s love for and in us], these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13, Amplified Bible)

Paul instructs us to cultivate these three most important virtues in the Scripture. And though there may be millions of sermons preached on the subjects of faith and love, there are far less sermons that speak on the subject of hope. And yet Senator Barak Obama’s best-selling book, The Audacity (boldness/daringness) of Hope, indicates just how desperately hope is needed in our day.

The Amplified Bible translates the word “HOPE” as “joyful and confident expectation.” The word “expect” is derived from two Latin words: “ex” meaning “out”–from which derives our English word “exit”–and “specto” meaning “watch or look”–from which derives words such as “spectacle” or “spectator”.

The Bible regularly describes God as being “good” (Psalm 100:5) and there are just some days when it takes boldness and a daringness to expect (be on the look out or watch) for the goodness of God (see: Habakkuk 2:1-4).

PRAYER: Lord, renew my audacity to look out for Your goodness during 2008!

*ONCE AGAIN: Please note that this is the final week of Fresh Bread. On this final week, I invite your thoughts!