My Hope

When I have one of those days or weeks or seasons, I have several go-to songs that I sing and they always lift my soul.  One of those is The Solid Rock by Edward Mots and William B. Bradbury. 

Verse 1:

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

I distinctly remember the mental shape I was in when I asked Jesus to cleanse me and be my Lord and Savior.  It was not a good place to be.  In those baby Christian years, I often looked at the lives of people around me and wondered how they managed to live day to day without the hope of Jesus.  Many turned to alcohol or drugs.  Some turned to extreme life styles or the reckless pursuit of money. 

I started building my future, my outlook, my foundation on Jesus.  It was (and still is) a process.  There will never be a time, as long as I’m on this earth in this physical body, I am completely through building.

I thought I was a student of the Word.  I had read the Bible through several times; done chronological studies, topical studies, book studies, etc.  But, without realizing it, I always filtered it through what others said.  Yet as a Christian, the Word is supposed to be my final authority; not what someone else says about it.

Then, my foundation was knocked out from under me.  The lovely Christian house I had built fell down around my ears.  That was not a good place to be, either but it did make me look at my building process and realize I had to make the Word final authority, period.

The house I have now is not quite so structured or lovely.  To the outsider, it might even look haphazardly put together; a room added here, a porch added there.  Some of the rooms are big and square with straight walls and full of good stuff because the foundation is strong.  Some of them are small, the walls are leaning and the floors are bare because I’m still working on them.  But inside, it flows from one room to the other and I am quite comfortable in it.  It will always be shifting and changing as I grow stronger in the Word and become bolder in its authority because now…

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus…