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I’m Not Ashamed – Part 3

Sustain me according to Your promise, and I will live; do not let my hopes be dashed. Psalm 119:116

A poet put it like this, ‘Take my side as You promised … Don’t disappoint all my grand hopes’ (Psalm 119:116). What is your ‘grand hope’? Do you hope to be famous one day? Do you perhaps hope that your face might be splashed across magazines, your name upon T-shirts, your every move known throughout the world, your every moment invaded by the paparazzi? Maybe not. Fame is a hope that will disappoint. Jim Carrey said, ‘I wish that everybody could get rich and famous and get everything they ever dreamed of – so that they could see that’s not the answer.’ And he’s one of Hollywood’s richest and most famous actors. Fame will disappoint. As Christians our ‘grand hope’ is this: ‘Your Kingdom come’ (Matthew 6:10) – a Kingdom where people are loved just as they are; a Kingdom where the cleaner is as loved as the movie star; a Kingdom where the young aren’t patronized and the old aren’t ignored; a Kingdom where the grieving are comforted and the lonely are befriended; a Kingdom where the thief and the victim are restored by justice. God promises that the ‘grand hope’ of seeing that ‘Kingdom come’ is one we can count on. And that, friends, is why we don’t need to be ashamed. Our hope is absolutely assured. It’s shout-it-out-without-fear-of-later-being-wrong guaranteed. So step up and live in that Kingdom, His Kingdom.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for making it possible for me to be in Your Kingdom. I find rest for my life in that fact. In Jesus‘ Name, Amen