By Todd Barrier

“From Parade magazine comes the story of self-made millionaire Eugene Land, who greatly changed the lives of a sixth-grade class in East Harlem.  

“Mr. Lang had been asked to speak to a class of 59 sixth-graders. What could he say to inspire these students, most of whom would drop out of school? He wondered how he could get these predominantly black and Puerto Rican children even to look at him.  

“Scrapping his notes, he decided to speak to them from his heart. ‘Stay in school,’ he admonished, ‘and I’ll help pay the college tuition for every one of you.’ At that moment, the lives of these students changed. For the first time, they had hope.  

“Said one student, ‘I had something to look forward to, something waiting for me. It was a golden feeling.’ Nearly 90 percent of that class went on to graduate from high school.”
The preceding story, from sermonillustrations.com, reminds us that hope is an awesome thing. It can lead us to do amazing or even amazingly foolish things.  

If we hope for the things of this world, it can lead to foolish things. In Titus 3:3, Paul reminds Titus that before we were Christians, we were sometimes foolish – among other things! That’s because we desired the things of the world over godly things.  

However, when we study the Bible and seek to serve God, our hope in that is anything but foolish!  

Godly hope gives us hope of eternity and helps us through the tough times of this life. It allows us to work hard for Him.  

So hope is a crazy thing; it just depends where your hope is found whether your hope leads to amazing things or amazingly foolish things.  

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

Where is your hope found?  

We look forward to seeing you Sunday!