Notes to the Lord: Hope that is Bold

2 Corinthians 3:12 (NIV)

12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.

Lord Jesus--There is a boldness to the hope that you bring into my life.

As I write this it is Christmas time and the signs of the season surrounds me. The Christmas season is a time of friends and family. It is brightly packaged time that is waiting to be unwrapped. Children have such anticipation of what will be waiting for them this year under a Christmas tree.

There is official end to the war in Iraq so much blood spilled for what end? A tyrant has been deposed, that is a very good thing. But is there lasting hope based on military power? As a nation we can be proud of what was accomplished, we will see what lasting change this conflict has brought. In so many ways, we are left with more questions than answers.

Lord Jesus-- The boldness that you bring into my hope has nothing to do with military power or of an anticipation based on gifts brightly wrapped and put under the Christmas tree. Hope has everything to do with ongoing change. You are not content with leaving me where I am at. You push me to move beyond the comfort of the known to the edges of where I have been before. You invite me to participate in a hope that propels me to spiritual formation that impacts the world around me.

There is no need for fear because of the hope that I have in you. It is a hope that has pushed beyond death to a place where hope has no limits. Hope is not limited just like grace and love are not limited. More accurately, they are limited only by my willingness to accept them and be transmuted by them.

James 2:26

For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead

For my faith to live it pushes me to action. I am left changed by your love, changed by your hope...change by the faith that you give life to within me. All that I have to do is accept the change...cooperate with the change...be responsive to the need for ongoing response.

So in this day that will begin in just a few hours, use this day to change me