The Editor's Pen

                There is a legend, probably from a play or a book, that says there is a sign over the gates of hell that reads, “Abandon Hope, All Ye who Enter Here!”  But those who go to hell do not pass through a gate, they are thrown into the fire.  Of course, the author of that line was referring to the utter despair of having seen God at the judgment, so that faith is no longer an issue.  He sees what he has missed.  At death, there is a certainty, a reality, and belief is no longer necessary.  During the tribulation period, men will despair, but not as grievously as he who has seen what his unbelief has cost him.  And love is also not going to be possible to those in hell.  So intense will be their suffering that every moment will be completely subjective, without thought of anyone else. 

So why abandon hope?  Because, my dear Christian friends, they have no hope for other than what they are about to experience.  There is no hope for them, but a desperate dread.  Hope is based upon real potential.  For the Christian, his faith is the substance of his hope, the reality of it.  There is no potential respite for the lost; only an enduring reality.  During their lives, they had not the hope of the Christian.  Their faith and their hopes were all placed on an earthly plane.  Everything temporal was their desire; every lust, their own.  Eternal life is given to us, not as a hope, but as a certainty, by faith.  We need to think beyond the grave when we plan the days of our lives.  We need to incorporate our eternal estate into our temporal circumstance, so that we begin to view our temporal lives from a heavenly perspective, an eternal perspective.  When we do, that for which we hope becomes more real, and we truly begin to lay up treasure in heaven, so that our hearts are where our real treasure is.  Our temporal circumstances fade into insignificance.  Only with the certainty of the hope of the saints do our temporal lives have meaning, and we are satisfied.  Hope is one of the three great virtues, but hope is the virtue that only few enjoy.  Hope alone brings a dimension to our lives that lost people cannot know.  Love is great, and faith is a blessing, but if we have no hope, and if that hope is not real in our present experience, then we cannot either enjoy or fruitfully utilize either faith or love.  Hope is a gift from God to every child.  Hope makes both faith and love possible.  How little we value it.  In this issue, you will get several perspectives on this forgotten virtue, and our prayer is that we are all edified and brought to a new level of understanding as we incorporate a conscious and vital hope into our everyday lives.