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Do You Have This? You Can
Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. ~ 2 Corinthians 3:12
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If we are not careful, we can motor through this verse, with a "yes, that's pretty," like driving through a quaint, pleasant village. However, let's pull over and visit for a short while.
Look at hope: she energizes Paul and his associates ("we"). Paul knows the God of hope Who overflows his life, filling him with all internal goodness and overflowing into action (Romans 15:13). Hope is greatest motivator; she is not passive. Paul states this verse as the most natural result of having "living hope" (1 Peter 1:3), not dormant hope. His hope inspires him to witness to jailers, even when he is shackled, cold, hungry, and unjustly imprisoned. Hope motivates him to witness to rulers, even Caesar, all the while seemingly in their power. Hope gives Paul the seeming audacity to stand up to the so-called "super apostles" ( 2 Corinthians 11:5, 12:11) like Peter, when Peter is clearly scripturally in the wrong (Galatians 2:11). Lest he think he were being over-bold, God spoke directly to Paul, saying, " "Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent" (Acts 18:9).
God does not play favorites (Acts 10:34). He's saying the same to us today.
Do you have the same "hope" as Paul and his brothers and sisters? Does it make you "very bold"? The same Jesus, the same Holy Spirit, the same "hope" lives in you. You merely have to yield more for the maximum effect. God (and the world, which will never admit it) needs Christians like you, with energizing, emboldening, inspiring hope.
**
If we are not careful, we can motor through this verse, with a "yes, that's pretty," like driving through a quaint, pleasant village. However, let's pull over and visit for a short while.
Look at hope: she energizes Paul and his associates ("we"). Paul knows the God of hope Who overflows his life, filling him with all internal goodness and overflowing into action (Romans 15:13). Hope is greatest motivator; she is not passive. Paul states this verse as the most natural result of having "living hope" (1 Peter 1:3), not dormant hope. His hope inspires him to witness to jailers, even when he is shackled, cold, hungry, and unjustly imprisoned. Hope motivates him to witness to rulers, even Caesar, all the while seemingly in their power. Hope gives Paul the seeming audacity to stand up to the so-called "super apostles" ( 2 Corinthians 11:5, 12:11) like Peter, when Peter is clearly scripturally in the wrong (Galatians 2:11). Lest he think he were being over-bold, God spoke directly to Paul, saying, " "Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent" (Acts 18:9).
God does not play favorites (Acts 10:34). He's saying the same to us today.
Do you have the same "hope" as Paul and his brothers and sisters? Does it make you "very bold"? The same Jesus, the same Holy Spirit, the same "hope" lives in you. You merely have to yield more for the maximum effect. God (and the world, which will never admit it) needs Christians like you, with energizing, emboldening, inspiring hope.
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