Hope
in the movie classic, Shawshank Redemption, Red and Andy are two prison inmates. Over a prison breakfast, Andy is talking about holding onto hope - hope for what's outside prison. Red, the older one, replies to Andy:
"Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane."
It's true. That sort of hope can drive a person insane. Hoping for what may never come. Hoping, crossing your fingers, wishing that something better might come along in the midst of a difficult life. Uncertain hope can drive a person insane.
Yet here in Ephesians 2, what Paul shares with us is hope of a different kind.
Ephesians 2:1-5
1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
We were dead.
We followed the ways of the world.
We lived to gratify our sinful desires and thoughts.
We deserved the wrath of God. Judgement.
But...
because of his great love,
God
in his mercy,
made us alive in Christ.
By grace.
What Paul is talking about here is a change that God HAS MADE in us. He HAS MADE us alive. Because of his love, he rescued us from that prison way of thinking. He rescued us from our chains. He rescued us from death itself and HAS MADE us alive in Christ. Forever.
This is no false hope, no wish list, no cross your fingers type thinking. This is solid and factual hope in our release from death that has already happened through Christ.
Towards the end of the movie, Andy writes a letter to Red now they are both on the outside. In it he says:
"Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."
The only good hope is a certain hope. Hope that never dies. Hope that frees us from the chains of death. Because of his great love, God has given us this certain hope, which is absolutely the best of things.
Prayer
Thank you Jesus for your love for us in offering us the certain hope of life eternal. Thank you for your mercy to us, once sinners caught in living for the world. Thank you that you have changed us, who deserved nothing, to become children of God.
Amen.