The Story of Hope: A New Story Secured
by Daniel Burton
As I stated at the beginning of this series, hope is a tricky, fragile thing. With the things we see in the world, the sins and temptations we all face, and the times when it feels like we are at the end, hope is easily lost. Even when we come to Christ, we fear that we will never be truly free from our past and don’t deserve to be where we are at. The fear that stands in the way of hope is that we are at the end of our story. While we may be at the end of our story, the hope that comes only from Jesus Christ, is that we have a new story free from our past and extended into eternity.
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
– Colossians 2:13-15 NIV
The grand narrative of the divine rescue mission from Jesus Christ is being revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. It would have been entirely just of God to simply allow sin to run its course in ourselves. But this would go against the love that God has towards his beloved creation, made in His image. Rather than allow mankind to remain in sin, He gave hope of a new beginning. Our old life is ending and we enter into a new story beginning when we follow Jesus Christ. We have the hope of a new life.
The End of One Story
As Collisions makes clear, we are freed from our past. We were definitely dead in our transgressions, but Christ has brought us to life. The burden and consequences of our sinful nature have been put to death on cross. Jesus has taking the consequences of our sin nature on Himself. 
With that single fate defying act on the cross, Jesus struck the chains of our old life that ensured us. We longer have to return to our old life and can take hope that we have been set free.
While we may struggle with temptation and remnants of our sin nature that God is still sanctifying and purifying, that portion of our life is coming to a close. No longer are we controlled by our sin nature, but we are giving our life fully to God. Through Jesus Christ, we have been given everything we need to be free from our past. Therefore, our old life has been defeated on the cross and our hope is made secure in the new life in our relationship with Jesus.
The Beginning of Eternity
When we come to Jesus, our story is not over. Rather, our story is just beginning. For however bad we may have been in the past or however much we felt that we could not be loved, the love of God conquers all those thing. We begin walking through the process of sanctifying our lives and pursuing Jesus Christ with everything we have. Our hope is secured that we are being ushered into eternity through faith in Jesus Christ.
The defeat of our sin nature marks the beginning of our new story. With our past behind us, we have hope that our future will be secure and safe in the hands of Jesus. Our hope is secure insofar as Jesus is victorious. Seated at the right hand of the throne of God, as an advocate on our behalf, Christ reigns victorious throughout eternity. This is our hope. This is our new story. From the depths of our sin, Jesus pulled us out of the ashes of our own destruction. Out of His great love for us, He secured our place with Him. We need only to have faith in the works that Chris has done. He is our victory and our hope, forever and forever.
