Day 26: Never Give Up

In 1 Thessalonians Paul speaks about faith and hope. It is a very interesting picture that he uses:

“But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.” (1 Thessalonians 5:8)

You will notice two items of armor in this passage: the breastplate and the helmet. Faith is the breastplate, and it protects the heart. Hope is the helmet, and it protects the head.

Hope is very important, because every true Christian should be an optimist. If someone is a pessimist, actually it is a denial of their faith. I define hope this way: A confident expectation of good based on the Word of God. Every one of us who is a true believer has a confident expectation of good. No matter what happens in this life, we are going to be with Jesus forever.

If that is your hope, you may temporarily get depressed or feel downcast. But you never give up because you have a hope—a hope that is based on faith.