Of these three words—faith, hope and love—that became the early Christian shorthand for a well-lived life with Jesus, hope is probably the most rare. Hope, in our world, is little more than a wish, a dream, a longshot almost destined to disappoint. But Christian hope is the absolute certainty that God is at work in the world, bringing restoration, joy, healing, wholeness and abundance in Jesus, by the Spirit, and through the Church, which he will ultimately complete at the return of Jesus. It is believing in God's promises with such absolute certainty that we are willing to risk everything to live into his future today. THAT is true hope!

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Meet the Bible is a day-by-day book of biblically inspired meditations. "Fresh" is a word that the authors often use to describe this innovative blend of Scripture and devotionals. While traditional devotionals often lack the substance that can be found in Scripture, daily reading Bibles are often too dense and time-consuming for the average reader. Using brief but direct excerpts from Scripture, the authors guide readers to the Bible's key passages, themes, and events. Each day gets one to two pages of text and closes with a contemplation, such as "When you experience success, whom do you tend to credit, yourself or God?"
 

Why is justice fair? Why are so many people pursuing spirituality? Why do we crave relationship? And why is beauty so beautiful? N. T. Wright argues that each of these questions takes us into the mystery of who God is and what he wants from us. In Simply Christian, Wright makes the case for Christian faith assuming that the reader has no predisposition to, and perhaps even some negativity toward, religion and/or Christianity in particular. His goal is to describe Christianity in as simple and accessible, yet hopefully attractive and exciting, to say to outsides "You might want to look at this further," and toinsiders "You may not have quite understood this bit clearly yet."
 

In Surprised by Hope, N. T. Wright describes a Christian's future hope and shows how it is deeply intertwined with how we live today. First he explores the meaning of resurrection and the Christian hope for "new heavens and a new earth". Most powerfully, though, Wright argues that what we believe about life after death directly affects what we believe about life before death. For if God intends to renew the whole creation—and if this has already begun in Jesus's resurrection—the church cannot stop at "saving souls" but must anticipate the eventual renewal by working for God's kingdom in the wider world, bringing healing and hope in the present life.