Omar Khayyam (the poet who wrote the famous line, “A loaf of bread, a jug of wine and thou”) also wrote some lines about hope. “The worldly hope that men set their hearts upon,” he said, “turns to ashes, or it prospers.” But, in either case, “like snow upon the desert’s dusty face, lighting a little hour or two, is gone.”
That is a striking image, especially for those who know the desert and have seen the beauty of a snow blanket on its dusty face which, “in an hour or two,” will be gone. Omar Khayyam is saying that our hope is often like that. Many of us have experienced it in just that way. Something dreadful happens to us, and well-intentioned friends who try to comfort us pronounce the usual cliches: “Don’t give up hope. Where there’s life, there’s hope.”
And that is the whole point of our New Testament Gospel of salvation. When God’s Grace touches you at the very center of…
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