Reading:  “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” —1 Corinthians 3:11

We are not going to speak of hope in general. We therefore say nothing of the hope of the worldling, which is a thing of nought; or of the hope of the infidel, which is annihilation; or of the hope of the antinomian, which is a devil’s dream; or of the hope of the Pharisees, which is a spider’s web; or of the hope of the hypocrite, which is a lie in his right hand; but of our hope, as Christians. And what is this? Jesus Christ, says the Apostles—He “is our hope.” He is the object, the ground, the author, the model of our hope.

The supreme aim of the believer is “to win Christ,” “to be found in Him.” “No other foundation can any man lay than that is laid, which is Christ.” Everything else we depend on will prove sand, but here is rock. Hope is not natural to us, neither is it derived from ourselves; but He produces it in us by His Holy Spirit. Thus may I bear the image of the heavenly, till He shall appear, and I shall be perfectly like Him, for I shall see Him as He is.

—William Jay (1769–1853)