Hope

Ray Ortlund post:  Now may the God of hope ...

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  Romans 15:13

Who is God?  He is the God of hope.  Hope for us is deep inside who God is.

What does God do?  He fills us with all joy and peace, so that we abound in hope.

How does God do that?  Our part: in believing.  His part: by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Being filled with all joy and peace, so that we abound in hope — that’s what a Romans-taught Christian looks like.  Not a tense, dogmatic person but someone filled with all joy and peace, abounding in hope.  Romans 1:1-15:12 is calculated to produce believers like this, churches like this.  Romans chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, and so on — it all funnels down to our being filled with all joy and peace, so that we abound in hope, and thus prove who God really is.