Roots by the River

“But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:57) “As I have already said, the first twenty-five years of my Christian life I lived in utter ignorance of this simple truth. I can never forget the 14 th of August, 1910, when the scales dropped from my eyes, and I saw that Christ was my life. Christ was my victory . I wasn’t bothering about the theological questions that have been discussed to the entanglement and defeating of so many Christians…. How God does things…is His business, not mine. But I do know that God does this thing; and I know it not because of any experiences of victory God has given me—blessed though some of them have been, and beyond anything I dreamed possible—but I know it because God says so . I don’t know it by looking at my own victories, or at the victories of others. I don’t know it because of any present experience or consciousness of Christ that I have. I know it because the Word of God says it. He says,...

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). We know that faith and love remain. We have had our doubts about hope . Perhaps it is because we have placed a 21st century definition on hope . For instance, we may say something like, “I hope so,” meaning, “I wish it would happen, but it probably won’t.” To us, hope is wishy and doubtful. That is why it doesn’t sound like it belongs with faith and love. In the Bible, hope is not wishy; it is a sure thing. “God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure ” (Hebrews 6:18-19). “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for...