Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)
To what has God called you? Most Christians think of God’s calling in terms of the work God has for us to do, whether in our professional lives, our families, or our participation in the church’s mission. We may also associate God’s calling with an invitation to know God and God’s love for us. But Ephesians adds something more, something unexpected. It says we are called to hope. In Ephesians 1, Paul prays that those who read his letter will receive from God “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better” (v. 17). Then Paul asks that, in addition to knowing God better, we might also know “hope to which He has called” us, “the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people,” and “His incomparably great power” (vv. 18-19). There you have it. Hope comes at the top of the list of things for which Paul prays. What does it mean to know the hope to which we have been called? The phrase rendered by the NIV as “the hope to which He has called you” reads more literally, “the hope of His calling.” Although Paul can elsewhere refer to “your calling” (Ephesians 4:4), here he emphasizes that the calling comes from God. We have a calling because God calls us. Though God first called us in the past, the content of that calling points to a glorious future. Right now, we belong to God because we have been called into a relationship with God. In the future, we will participate in the fullness of salvation, in the unifying of all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:10). Thus, when we consider God’s calling, we respond with hope. Notice that our hope is not something we conjure up in ourselves through positive thinking or by trying to have a good attitude. Rather, it is our response to knowing God and all that God has given to us in Christ and will give us through Christ in the future. Therefore, in this passage, Paul does not exhort us to be hopeful. Rather, he prays that God will enable us to know the hope that is already ours in Christ. Genuine hope is a gift of God and a response to God’s gracious calling. Hope of this sort depends, not on some emotional high, but rather on the bedrock of God’s calling to us. Moreover, it depends on the reality of the resurrection of Christ. Why does Easter matter? Because the resurrection gives us hope and reassures us that our hope will not disappoint us. Comments are closed.
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