December 1: Hope That Transforms

Pastor Jeff Cranston

“But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord; I wait for God, my Savior.”

Micah 7:7, NIV

Some years ago, Parade magazine carried the true story of self-made millionaire Eugene Lang. Mr. Lang had been asked to speak to a class of 59 sixth-graders in East Harlem, New York City. Statistics clearly proved that most of these students would eventually drop out of school. He asked himself, “Will these students listen to anything I have to say? What can I say to inspire them?” Ignoring his prepared notes, he decided to speak to them from his heart. 

“Stay in school,” he encouraged, “and I’ll help pay the college tuition for every one of you.” In that moment, the potential future of every one of those students changed. They had been given a gift more valuable than the cost of a college education. Mr. Lang had given them hope. Said one student, “I had something to look forward to, something waiting for me. It was a golden feeling.” Nearly 90 percent of that class went on to graduate from high school.

Hope is a powerful emotion. Yet it is more than just an emotion. It is also a powerful Scriptural truth, an anchor for our souls. Hope is more than wishing for something to happen in the future that will be good for us – it is found in a Person who holds the future. “Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight.” All our hope is in Jesus.

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