Our Present Hope

[391 words] Many suffer from what might be called emotional paralysis. We are unable to function today because we either live in the past or are preoccupied with worry about the future. While we may regret mistakes of the past, we cannot make up for those mistakes by continually reliving them in our minds. Where forgiveness is necessary, we should by all means pursue it with vigor. But there comes a time when we must move on and make the most of the present. The apostle Paul had formerly lived in hostility to the way of Christ. He was a man obsessed with the destruction of the church. He consented to the death of Stephen (Acts 7:58). He had been “a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor…” (1 Tim. 1:13). Paul dealt with his dark past by looking forward to his bright future in Christ. He wrote the…