{"id":6303,"date":"2020-04-25T11:37:53","date_gmt":"2020-04-25T01:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=6303"},"modified":"2020-04-25T12:13:36","modified_gmt":"2020-04-25T02:13:36","slug":"radical-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/radical-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Radical Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Radical Hope<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Monica<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Original post by Becoming Fully Alive blog site<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s been an \u2018eventful\u2019 few months, when you befriend every type of pain and anguish, it seems like the most radical thing you can do is be hopeful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what does hope really mean? We say it almost interchangeably with \u2018wish\u2019 or \u2018good luck\u2019. Understood correctly, it is not to be confused with a whimsical naivety. Hope is anything but fluffy, it\u2019s as solid as an anchor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cWe have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> Hebrews 6:19 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not to be mistaken for escapism and retreat because that would be a direct contradiction to the command, \u201cTake up your cross and follow me.\u201d And it\u2019s never been about indifference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been thinking about what hope IS, and have come to the conclusion that it may be simply realising that often times, the new wine is yet to come. Hope is the power of a conviction that the life built on faith will produce its fruits. Hope is the confidence that, despite all darkness and sin, the light of the loving forgiveness of God is upon us to do, with us and for us what we can\u2019t. It\u2019s about redeeming what was lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hope, is to proclaim that we believe in the Resurrection. It is to look at the nails and the cross and see victory and salvation for all mankind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hope is the part of the three fold cord (faith, hope, love), that cannot be broken. Because, one of the most important things I have learnt is that, hope is not just nice, it is necessary<\/strong>. When it really feels like you are drowning, hope is the air that keeps us breathing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAgainst all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, \u2018So shall your offspring be.\u201d<\/strong><\/em> <\/em><\/strong>Romans 4:18<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abraham had a hope beyond hope. Where all human logic and wishful thinking had expired, he remained steadfast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without hope we become cynics or we fall into despair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cynicism often means assuming the worst about people, their motives and the outcomes of decisions. It\u2019s picking the dark shades out of the palette, to paint the world a shade of negativity. Without hope we are sick<\/strong> and we become unresponsive to the grace of God and the support of our brothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dangerous thing is, it is so easy to justify, because, in truth, humanity is broken, bad things happen, sometimes people have sinful motives, maybe we know ourselves well enough to project that onto others. We can\u2019t assume people will always do good but maybe we just need to give people the opportunity to be. With hearts and minds wide open, we will see God\u2019s hand. We see that people are<\/strong> good, though this goodness is nuanced and idiosyncratic, and God is great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We see a story of redemption throughout the Bible. In the book of Isaiah, we meet a Pagan king named Cyrus. Despite the fact he didn\u2019t know God, God still used him to encourage the Jewish people to return to their homeland and rebuild their temple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Let us remind each other to flee from the dark gripping forces of despondency and despair. With a renewed hope, let us walk in the palm of His sovereign<\/strong> hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe force of despondence \u2026 overwhelms him and oppresses his soul; and this is a taste of hell because it produces a thousand temptations: confusion, irritation, protesting and bewailing one\u2019s lot, wrong thoughts, wandering from place to place, and so on<\/em>\u00a0(Saint Isaac of Syria, 6th c.,\u00a0Directions on Spiritual Training<\/em>).”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Original blog found at – http:\/\/becomingfullyalive.com\/cynicism\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Radical Hope By Monica Original post by Becoming Fully Alive blog site It\u2019s been an \u2018eventful\u2019 few months, when you befriend every type of pain and anguish, it seems like the most radical thing you can do is be hopeful. But what does hope really mean? We say it almost interchangeably with \u2018wish\u2019 or \u2018good … Continue reading “Radical Hope”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6304,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6303"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6310,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6303\/revisions\/6310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}