HOPE

One of the Mind's favorite movie lines comes from the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, spoken by Aragorn, the rightful heir to the throne of Gondor. It is just prior to the battle of Helm's Deep in which Aragorn and his fellow combatants are grossly outnumbered. A young lad tells Aragorn that he's heard that they won't last the night to which Aragorn replies, "There is always hope." As many of you have seen, they were miraclously delivered and achieved a stunning victory over their enemies.

So for the Christian today. We may be outnumbered and all may appear to be dark and hopeless individually or for all who hold dear the name of Christ. But we were delivered from Satan's power at the cross, and we will yet be delivered from this body of flesh with its weaknesses. Charles Spurgeon puts it beautifully:

"My hope lives not because I am not a sinner, but because I am a sinner for whom Christ died; my trust is not that I am holy, but that being unholy, He is my righteousness. My faith rests not upon what I am, or shall be, or feel, or know, but in what Christ is, in what He has done, and in what He is now doing for me."