Chris Bailey III - Hope Is Strength!

"Though hope is frail, it's hard to kill."

​Yesterday Faith, Jai'el, and I went to the zoo. While recovering from the heat at the polar bear exhibit, birds dotted and walked all around us. They were so close, we thought we could touch them. But sure enough, right when my hand got about an inch away, they would bounce and dart into flight. Did God put that fear into the bird to protect it? In a post-sin world I would say so. Even with our good intentions, He knew that in our excitement we would probably injure or crush this incredibly fascinating, but fragile, creature.

The fragility of the bird is a product of the same physiology that allows it to be light enough and strong enough to fly. You could argue that its weakness is its greatest strength. The same can be seen in hope. It is as strong as it is fragile. Hope is not just a weak but holy "whatever." Hope is a voluntary disarmement of the power of self to invest in the One who is all power. Therefore, the Christian's hope is actually a gift of strength.

Joel 3:16 KJV
The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

1 Peter 1:3 KJV
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Psalm 31:24 KJV — Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.

Our Father in Heaven promises to be our hope AND our strength. That means He is able to be our willing and our doing! The scale of the power of this hope is equated to the power by which The Father raised His Son Jesus Christ from the dead! As we hope in God we will be strengthened, and even revived.

Family, choose God by choosing hope! In Him, through Christ, and on His word, we can do something better than holding a bird in our hands, and that's to fly like one in our hearts!

​- Chris Bailey III