“Now in this hope we were saved, yet hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.” Romans 8:24-25 HCSB

Hope. We all look forward to Christians for one of two reasons. Because we are excited for what we might get or to see the reactions from what we get others. Christmas would be boring if everyone knew what they were getting. This is the hope in the Christian life. Not Christmas presents but the anticipation of rewards from serving God.  

We look forward to the day when Jesus calls us home. It might just be in our generation that we get to experience the rapture of the Church when we get caught up in the air with those ones who have gone before us.

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord.”

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 HCSB

https://www.bible.com/72/1th.4.16-17.hcsb

We also should be looking forward to the next thing God has in store for our life. God has not stopped working in you and will not till you are perfected in His Glory. The sad part is when we stop looking to be perfected and become complacent in our walk with God.

If everyone who is a Christian was marked by God on the body, flesh, there would be no righteousness. But God has marked the spirit and we must strive to conform the flesh into what Jesus wants us.  So we hope in our salvation. We can know we are saved and we strive to be sanctified. Hoping for our salvation to be completed in us. 

Do you know that you are saved?

Do you trust Jesus to complete the cleaning process He has started in you?

Do you long for the fulfillment of His promise to you to build you a mansion in heaven?

Do you obey Jesus?

If you answered ”yes” to all the questions then you are on the right path. If you answered ”no” to one or more of the questions then you need to find out why and correct it.

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord! ’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven.”

Matthew 7:21 HCSB

https://www.bible.com/72/mat.7.21.hcsb

Salvation requires obedience to God. 

“If you love Me, you will keep My commands. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.

The one who has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me. And the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father. I also will love him and will reveal Myself to him.”

Jesus answered, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. The one who doesn’t love Me will not keep My words. The word that you hear is not Mine but is from the Father who sent Me.”

John 14:15-16, 21, 23-24 HCSB

https://www.bible.com/72/jhn.14.15-16,21,23-24.hcsb

Love of God requires obedience to God.

“Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”

Romans 12:1-2 HCSB

https://www.bible.com/72/rom.12.1-2.hcsb

God’s will is known by not conforming to the World but offering yourself as a living sacrifice to Him.

We hope for what we do not see but yet we work to obtain the materials to send to heaven to build our mansion. We don’t work for salvation but our works prove to others we are saved. The works we do reflect who we are obeying. Good works in the Christian life are the chores we must do to earn our allowance in God’s system. 

“Your heart must not be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if not, I would have told you. I am going away to prepare a place for you. If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also. You know the way to where I am going.” “Lord,” Thomas said, “we don’t know where You’re going. How can we know the way? ” Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

John 14:1-6 HCSB

https://www.bible.com/72/jhn.14.1-6.hcsb