24.5.09

an·tic·i·pa·tive

The word anticipative is quite a likeable word.

Anticipative\An*tic"i*pa*tive\, a.
Anticipating, or containing anticipation. ``Anticipative of the feast to come.'' --Cary. -- An*tic"i*pa*tive*ly, adv. 
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Been pondering on two phrases that led me to be anticipative:
1) Grace-fueled hope
2) Faith-filled obedience

Hope fills our hearts with a desire to see what could not be actually come to BE. An opening up of horizons to Providential possibilities of a reality outside of our grey, bleak boxes labelled "Mundane lives". Hope pushes boundaries of self, is not subject to the rhyme or reason of our binary existence, and redraws the perimeters of our vista which is otherwise void of the supernatural. God's grace makes hope possible. For without grace, what hope could we have? What hope could you and I cling on to, that sets our face like flint to the treacherous journey before us, anticipating despite the bleary surroundings a sweet eternal ending? Without grace, there is NO hope. Thus, would you not say that any sense of hope is to be attributed to grace given us undeservingly and not dependent at ALL on whether we can make things happen the way we want? So, we hope - and that hope is realized because God fuels it with HIS grace, outside of our resources and ability to see too far into the future or to turn the wheels to our own advantage. Because of God's grace, we can have hope and live out hope.

To live out that hope, then, demands of us a response. An obedient response, in fact. How come? Think of a dream you hope would come true. Then think what it requires of you to live that out. Realities, of course, are not ours to create. It is not that you can make an alternate reality because you simply hope so and it just happens. But if we think about it, when your heart is filled with a living hope, a hope that has vision, drive, passion, and excitement (albeit apprehensive at some moments), you cannot help but respond with a resolve not to jeopardize that hope - not if you can help it. 
We do the things we otherwise cannot do.
We don't do the things we otherwise do.
All so that our obedience moves us along that grace-fueled hope. We obey what it takes, because that which we hope for is worth our obedience. But...this takes faith. Obedience without faith is no obedience. Obedience with faith, now THAT'S what moves mountains. More importantly, it moves you and moves God's heart. Thus, a devotion of heart and a diligence of mind emerges: I fully submit to this hope I now have by grace, let me consider what it requires of me and obey it by faith.

GRACE ENABLES HOPE THAT DEMANDS OF US OUR OBEDIENCE BY FAITH.

What do you hope for today?
Of what are you anticipative?
And how can you exercise faith in your obedience towards this hope?