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10/1/17

Misunderstanding hope can make Christianity feel like "bait and switch"

Hope is not wishful thinking. Not “holding a positive thought,” it is the confident anticipation that goodness is coming. A rock-solid expectation, something we can build our lives on. Not the delicate and fragile hopes most people are trying to get by with. 1 Cor 13:13, hope last forever.

I'm reviewing a devotional about All Things New by John Elderidge on bible.com

He says, "What would you say is the great hope of your life these days?
If it is anything at all worth talking about, Christianity is supposed to be the triumphant entry of an astonishing hope breaking into human history. A hope above and beyond all former hopes. An unbreakable, unquenchable hope. But I’ll be honest—far too often what gets presented as the “hope” of   Christianity feels more like a bait and switch. “We understand that you will eventually lose everything you love, that you have already lost so much. Everything you love and hold dear, every precious memory and place you will lose, but afterward you get to go to this New Place Up Above!” "

Christian Hope:
Rev 21:5 AMP "And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true [they are accurate, incorruptible, and trustworthy].”

The big idea is this: "heaven is not our eternal home-the New Earth is. Jesus described the next chapter of our story as "the renewal of all things," (Matthew 19:28). Meaning, literally, the renewal of the earth we love in all its beauty, the renewal of our own being, and all those things which make for a rich life-music, art, food, laughter, all that we hold dear-shall be renewed "when the world is made new" -  John Elderidge
 Practical Implications of Christian Hope