​1 Peter 1:3 – 12.
 
Hope! It is that mysterious, periodically, subconscious future-oriented ingredient that provides the motivation and impetus for life, bestowing significance to our preferences and conduct, and largely, enhancing our physiological, mental and emotional well-being. When hope is discarded or lost, it is not uncommon to be faced with a state synonymous with Dante’s description – like being in hell. What does the Bible say about hope? The Apostle Peter addressed aspects of this in his First Epistle. Principally, to a believer, his hope has nothing to do with a desperate attempt at clinging on to something that had a slim chance of becoming real but it is a living hope; founded on reality and grounded firmly in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1Peter 1:3; c.f., Rom 6:4-5; 1Cor 15). A hope based on what God has done, will never fail. His resurrection formed the basis for the forgiveness of our sins, our gift of eternal life, with the promise of the Holy Spirit, and an abiding hope for what is definitively imminent (2Cor 1:22; 2Cor 5:5; Eph 1: 13-14; c.f., 1Peter 1:23-25).
 
Our enduring faith in God sustains this hope, which at the end of time as we know it, hope’s objective, imperishable and undefiled, will be revealed as our inheritance in the new heaven (1Peter 1:4; c.f., Eph 1:18-21). This inheritance is safeguarded for the believer by God’s own power to be revealed only at the Father’s behest (1Peter 1: 5; c.f., Matt 24: 36-37; 1Thess 5:1-3). In view of this inestimable hope, Peter encourages his readers to rejoice in their present suffering! What could possibly be the reasons for their rejoicing? Firstly, suffering is fundamentally transitory, even within the three score years and ten, in view of eternity (2Cor 4: 16-18). Secondly, the trials and tests will strengthen our faith enabling us to sustain our hope in Christ (c.f., Rom 5:3-5; James 1:2-4). Thirdly, as our faith is proven genuine, all praise, glory and honour will be attributed to our Lord Jesus Christ when He is revealed at the end of time (c.f., 1Peter 2:9; 1Peter 4:11). The interactive reciprocity of faith and hope is obviously related, where our faith in Christ enables us to persevere in hope, now and then through the most horrific vicissitudes of life in this world, that the same God who raised Jesus from the dead will likewise sustain us to the end (1Peter 1:6-9). Further, the future salvation of our souls in the last days is driven by our love for God. Should we not be filled with an overwhelming joy? Amidst the suffering, our hope, nourished by God, will flourish and strengthen our faith too. 
 
The salvation of our souls had been addressed by God continually through the Old Testament prophets. In hindsight, even though the references may have been vague, their symbolism is clear and a certainty to its fulfillment beyond doubt (1Peter 1:10-12). When the Messiah arrived inconspicuously in the first century, neither the Jewish elite nor the disciples of Jesus were cognizant that Yahweh was among them prior to the resurrection. Nevertheless, the prophets comprehended a great deal about the grace of God, the sufferings of Christ, and the glories of the future; quite apart from the realization that they were the harbingers of this hope for our benefit. They prepared the way for our Lord’s appearance in our time. Even the angels wonder in awe and amazement to know the mystery of the salvation of man. Jesus’ resurrection, His triumph over death’s power was the turning point in the gospel event and established that indelible ‘living hope’ in us. In every generation, as believers, as heirs of this divine salvation, we persevere in faith, living in the hope of the consummation of all things in Christ on that final day (Eph 1:9-12). Come, Lord Jesus, come!

​James 1: 2 – 25.
 
Not unlike a long-distance runner, endurance is built over a period of regular training often punctuated with certain pain, but with perseverance, with the result within reach. Similarly, spiritual maturity, according to the Apostle James, is not a hit-and-miss process but one that arises through withstanding the testing of our faith, and though we may grit our teeth as we are stretched to our physical, emotional, and psychological limits, he encouraged us to brave it as pure joy! For the one who perseveres under trial, a future-oriented life at its best in the new earth and new heaven will be their reward (i.e., the crown of life; James 1:12; c.f., Rev 2:10).  However, to regard all trials and temptations as ‘pure joy’ may just sound too masochistic, but for the fact that spiritual maturity is the culmination of an enduring relationship with our Lord and is only sustainable when that rapport is fueled by a yearning to be in His Presence, where the experience of suffering is viewed from our position in Him (c.f., Phil 4:11-14). In other words, the first commandment ought to be our constant focus, where we seek to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our souls and with all our mind (James 1:12; Matt 22:36-38), even in the midst of suffering. 
 
When God tests us, His motives are never to destroy our faith in Him, and therefore, to imagine that He causes us to sin is reprehensible as James reasoned that God cannot be tempted by evil (James 1:13). The pathway to the corruption of good morals invariably begins within the individual’s heart and sinful nature, where sin is birthed (James 1:14-15). In this perspective, the capacity for human self-deception is enormous and potentially self-destructive, as we choose to blame God having been trapped by our own misdemeanors and wrong decisions. But God remains committed to our wellbeing by giving up His Son at Calvary, so that we can be born anew through the gospel, as evidence of ‘the first fruits’ of His glory and grace among His creations (James 1:16-18). 
 
The expectation that nothing untoward would happen to believers is far more prevalent than imagined; consequently, James cautioned us to “be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger” since our resentments will never enable us to live righteously before God (James 1:19-20). The alternative to trusting our Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow, is to forget what we have heard and read from the gospel and react in apportioning blame to Him for our misfortunes. Our reactions in confronting difficulties do matter, and if we are not to jeopardize our testimony in Christ, we ought to recall the implanted word of the gospel how not to walk blindly or impulsively into sin (so that our souls will be saved; James 1:21, 25). Significantly, our misplaced indignation is an indication of how we view our identity in Christ, either as transformed Christlike beings or as individuals trapped in our own self-willed humanity. 
 
James exhorted his readers to take a close look at themselves to ascertain their own sincerity in the expression of their faith in God as we attempt to be obedient to the word, so that we will be set free by it and be blessed through it (James 1:21-25). For that reason, to grow in faith when we are struggling through trials and temptations is to remember the basis of our salvation. And in acknowledging Yahweh’s sovereignty in our lives, we ought not to misinterpret His repeatedly unfathomable motives (not unlike Job’s predicament). Hence, in our suffering, let us recall the occasions when God in His goodness always delineated His best for us. And when we are being instructed from the word, let us not just be hearers of it but doers as well, if we desire to embrace fully the freedom the gospel presents to us in living a Christ-centred life.