Hope

If you are not experiencing enough of God’s grace to overcome sin, the problem may be that you lack hope.  Throughout Scripture, assured hope of salvation is inseparably connected with obedience to God’s commands.  No one can rightly hope for salvation, but those who obey God.  The reverse is also true.  No one can keep the commandments, but those who hope for salvation.  1 John 3:2-3 show us the connection between hope and obedience.  When Jesus Christ returns, Christians will see Him in all His divine glory, and will be changed into His image (verse 2).  The following verse reveals the effect that this blessed hope has on us now:  “Everyone that has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself as He is pure” (verse 3).  One implication is that overcoming sin right now in this life is connected with the hope of seeing Christ when He returns in glory.  If Christians genuinely believe that they will one day see the Lord in all His glory face to face, they will be powerfully motivated to live in a way that is worthy of Him.  If you were invited to see a king, you would dress in a way fitting to the royal person’s dignity.  In the same way, seeing the risen Lord requires appropriate clothing, in this case robes of righteousness. The assured hope of seeing Christ has a powerfully compelling effect on the Christian.  The more you think about the Lord’s return, and actually seeing Him, the more desire you will have to purify your heart and life.