| Good morning, everyone, Our theme for this month: “Sound doctrine, strong faith” Our Bible verse for today: “This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Romans 5:5 (CSB) Our thought for today: “The confident expectation of good things to come” I love this – hope for this life and for the next. We Christians get to live with the hope. But hope in the Biblical sense is more than just a wish – it is the firm and confident expectation of good things to come in this life and in the next. First, it is the certainty of eternity in heaven. But let’s be honest here. Is that, by itself, enough? Isn’t Kenny Chesney right when he sings “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to go now”? It’s true! Most of us enjoy living, and we want to keep doing it. While we do want to go to heaven – someday, we don’t really want to go today. It reminds me of little Johnny sitting in Sunday school and the teacher said to the children, “Everybody who wants to go to heaven raise your hand.” And all the children raised their hands, except little Johnny. Confused, the teacher asked, “Johnny, don’t you want to go to heaven?” And Johnny replied, “Well, yes, but not today. Mom’s making peach cobbler for dessert.” Isn’t that true of all of us? I am looking forward to going to heaven, but not yet please. The good news is that as the children of God we don’t just have hope for the next life, but for this one too. We get to have peach cobbler for dessert – and it’s okay to be looking forward to it! We get to hold the baby, pet the puppy, enjoy a cold drink of sweet tea on the porch on a lazy Sunday afternoon, and then marvel at the beautiful sunset in the evening. And then we get to do it all again tomorrow. We have hope for the next life, and we get to enjoy this one too! Right now, in this life, as Christians we have the Holy Spirit of God in our hearts and He is slowly but surely forming the fruit of the Spirit in us, progressively transforming us more and more into the image of Christ, making these virtues our own: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” As we grow in Christ, that comes to describe more-and-more who we are as an individual and we discover even more to be joyful about and to enjoy. We learn to sing with the Psalmist, “This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.” It’s still true that life is hard and challenging but the fact is, we are overcomers through Christ. We are more than conquers through Jesus and we have learned to say with the Apostle Paul, “We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed.” “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.” It is our faith in Christ that enables us to have that kind of a life. Faith really is the victory. It really is true that when we come to God through faith in Christ, we have hope for the next lifetime, but for this one too. It is the firm and confident expectation of good things to come. God bless, Pastor Jim (If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville |
| Copyright © 2026 Oak Hill Baptist Church, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Oak Hill Baptist Church 3036 Genesis Road Crossville, TN 38571 |
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