Hope

“For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will also be set free”  Romans 8:20-21

Hope – Yesterday we discovered that God brought futility on creation in order to accomplish His purpose.  Meaninglessness is not an accident.  Here is the great paradox of existence.  Meaninglessness has a purpose.  We need to add just the next thought from verse 21.  The purpose of meaninglessness is hope.  God deliberately subjected the creation to futility in order that we would be faced with a world of frustration.  No ultimate meaning can be found anywhere we look except in God.

Cranfield says something important about this verse.  “The whole magnificent theater of the universe, together with the splendid properties and all the varied chorus of sub-human life, created for God’s glory, is cheated of its true fulfillment so long as man, the chief actor in the great drama of God’s praise, fails to contribute his rational part.”  It is the real Butterfly Effect.  We disturb everything!

Sinful mankind bears an incalculable weight.  It is the weight of diminishing the true goal of creation.  Sinful mankind throws a polluted scum over the intended magnificence of God’s handiwork.  Everything suffers the consequences.  Did you know that your contribution to Sin alters the fabric of the universe?  It’s not just your life turned miserable.  Sin affects the galaxies flung across the sky. 

But sin is not the last word in this drama.  God subjected the creation to meaninglessness so that the creation would find hope in Him.  Elpis is a word that means, “desire with the expectation of attainment”.  This is a very important word in the New Testament.  It would take volumes to explore its deepest sense.  But this much is clear.  God has the final word – and that word is hope.  It is not “wishing on a star”.  It is the confident expectation that the God of all creation will accomplish His purpose – in me and in the farthest galaxy.  All will be made right.  Of this I am certain.

Today:  Take another look in that mirror.  Do you see hope?  Is it hope planted firmly on the character of God?  Without that foundation, you might as well flap your butterfly wings.