Printed from: https://www.cmf.org.uk/doctors/devotion/?id=devotion&day=6&month=4
'.... let us put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 1 Thessalonians 5:8
Hope is meant to be a guardian of the mind, the perfect protection against depression, worry, pessimism and all the forms of rejective thinking. Hope has great therapeutic value for disturbed feelings. Because we know that God's choices for us are motivated by infinite love and guided by infinite wisdom, our hope comprising an attitude of openness and expectancy gives us emotional balance.
There are no hopeless situations -- only people who have grown hopeless about them. King David knew the great therapeutic value of hope for disturbed emotions. In his own distress (Ps 42) he cried out: 'Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?' He soon found the answer: 'Hope in God, for I shall again praise him for the help of his presence' (NIV).
'When we were utterly helpless with no way of escape, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners who had no use for him' (Rom 5:6 LB). Every day then is a time for hope -- 'For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life' (Jn 3:16). 'And hope does not disappoint us because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the holy Spirit which has been given to us' (Rom 5:5).
Make us mindful always, Lord, of the helmet you have
given us, which is the hope of salvation. So keep our
minds at all times, knowing that in quietness and
confidence in you is our strength.
Further reading: 1 Thes 5:8-11.
KOT
