As chaplain to Wycombe Wanderers Football Club I have stood in the sunshine (they were running of course) on the first day back in training over a month ago. This week - a month of training and friendly matches later - everyone is geared up for the new season and full of hope.
Of the 24 teams in our league I have not seen anyone at or around the Club who thinks we can possibly end up lower than 5th. I think we'll do better than that.
There's just a little problem.
Every one of the 46 league games will involve . . . an opposition! Not once in those 46 games will the eleven other guys say, "Hey, we thought you'd come fifth or higher. We'll let you win to help you." All our hope is based on ourselves, and we haven't seen the opposition - not one of them - yet. In this way, thousands of football fans start every season full of hope that quite quickly fades away. Watch this space!
But back in the real world of the Bible there is a hope that cannot fade:
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.
Simply put, the believer's hope is based on a defeated opposition, not a waiting opposition. Jesus is risen. Death and sin are defeated. This is a hope that cannot be ambushed by the Other Side!
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