“Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober-minded, rest your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” I Peter 1:13

Where do I rest my hope?

Recently I’ve been thinking about how easy it is to set my hope on life hacks, routines, and daily habits. Being a good steward of our time, money, bodies, and relationships truly does take order and intention every day… but as we get older we realize we can stop thinking that eventually we are going to figure it all out. “If I could just get all my routines down and follow them… if I could just conquer all the problem areas I have and break them all down into daily steps… then I can be healthy, happy, really start living, and start blessing others”. Wrong. Life is always changing. Schedules are always changing. What worked one month won’t work another. We’re never going to figure it all out. And anybody that looks like they’ve got it all going on? They don’t. There are weak areas and they also need constant correcting and re-balancing too. They’re never satisfied if they’re looking to be satisfied in themselves.

And even IF we did figure it ALL out – if we gathered all the hacks that make life more manageable and get us on “healthier” paths – the Lord in His grace would allow us to go through a trial that would crumble everything.

No, our hope is definitely not in goal setting, life hacks, or daily habits. All of that is just a disguised religion, sometimes it even looks like Christianity… but with self at the center, it’s the worst deception of all.

What other places are we tempted to set our hope? On people? Being affirmed, appreciated, praised by others? On our children and finding our identity in their successes and their health??? On money and the inheritance that is going to be passed down to us one day or the one we are building up for our children? What about our country? Is all our hope set on our country staying as a world leader, protected by the best military in the world, as a beacon of freedom?

How we would respond if these things didn’t come through for us… gives us a lot of insight on where our hope is set.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name

On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand

My hope rests on Jesus. It’s not a moving target. The object of my faith and my hope is Jesus.
My hope is not in myself, my hope rests in Jesus!
My hope is not in what I do, but on what Jesus has done!
My hope for both my future and my daily living is not in knowledge or how-to live well secrets, it rests on Jesus and trusting in His Spirit to guide me.
I will get not drunk on the world’s way of thinking that points to self, but instead I will remain sober-minded, sharpened in my thinking, girding up my thoughts to Him every day and making sure my hope is at rest in Christ.

I can stop searching for the thing that will make it ALL click…. I can truly let my hope REST. And keep it rested!

Thank you Jesus for this reminder that my hope is not in money, success, good works, people, my country… but solely in you! Help me remember and remind others of this truth so often. Nothing on this earth satisfies like being satisfied in you, Lord. Our hearts were made for eternity so nothing temporal of this earth can truly fill the heart’s longings. Setting my hope fully on you will help me operate from a place of love and acceptance and rest and that makes all the difference. I trust you to give me wisdom, power in my daily living, and the chance to show others how to live with hope in YOU. Help me enjoy the good things of earth, learn from others, gather wisdom from those further ahead than me, have good daily habits…. but never let me worship these things and try to rest my hope in them. You are the ultimate goal, forever and ever amen!