Prisoners of Hope

I was reading today in Zach 9 about the return of Christ. I was reading here because of the particular promise that one day I will sparkle in the land like jewels in a crown and that I will be beautiful in the truest sense – all sin removed and the body re-created to be free from the curse! May it come soon Lord Jesus! Anyway- I was struck with a word picture that Zachariah uses. He is naming the children of Israel and promising them the abundant rewards of the Messiah and he address them as “prisoners of hope.” I was just floored by this. I have felt recently that I have been a prisoner of fear. I have lived for so long trying to escape pain. I don’t want a boy to reject me – so I won’t like anyone. I don’t want friends to hurt me – so I won’t really invest in anyone. I don’t want my parents to crush me – so I won’t allow them to be apart of my life. I have been ordering my life around fear for so long that I don’t even know what it is like anymore to be “whole” and live without it. But God has been pushing me to embrace hope. To realize that love casts out all fear. To see that being afraid removes all hope – and that is definitely the grace that I find in Jesus. And then I read – prisoner of hope! That’s it! I have become a prisoner of hope. I cling to it as if it is my last breath. I hope that one day I can serve Jesus without fear. I hope that one day I will have a life partner that is able to model beauty and love and grace every day in my life. I hope that I will have people around me that can witness the transformation of Grace that is being made in my life. I hope to invest in others and to bring the Kingdom of God near to many people. I am bound to hope – I can’t think of my life without it. I am under its control. I am its slave. Oh Father – make this be true! Make me a prisoner of your Hope!