For what do you hope? Perhaps you hope for a better job, or improved health, or a sunny day. Of this I am certain, hope is a critical part of a healthy life – spiritually, emotionally, and even physically! When a person loses hope, giving up on life, he slips into despair. It is a situation beyond sadness, worse than depression. Without hope all is dark, there is no tomorrow, no reason to get up. For some this is a temporary state brought on by crisis. With support and time hope is regained and life goes on. Tragically, some give up on life and exist without hope.
Hope is not elusive or beyond our reach. Real hope is connected to faith and love, the traid of which Paul wrote - "—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love." (1 Corinthians 13:13, NLT)
One author suggests that we
experience hope in several ways.
There is a realistic hope, focused on an outcome that is possible with intervention or help. When I was recovering from surgery, I had a realistic hope of feeling better because I knew that my body had amazing recuperative powers, that healing would take place and it did.
He says that some live with a
utopian hope, a desire to eliminate all sources of pain or difficulty. Often
such hope drives individuals to seek new places, new experiences, and/or new
spiritual experiences because they are convinced that the utopia of which they
dream is right over the next hill in life. But, utopian hope always disappoints
because we live in a world where people fail, where disasters come.
Many experience a chosen hope, one fixed on a certain accomplishment or person. They strive to win that that award pulled on by hope. They work to build a business hoping for financial security. They love another person, pursuing them because they have hope of knowing love.
Then, there is transcendent hope. This is the hope of which Paul was inspired to write. "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." (Romans 5:1-5, NIV)
Christians live with hope
that is anchored outside of their day to day existence. Our true hope is focused
on Christ, on gaining eternal life, on the fact that God is working to perfect
the character of Jesus in us. This hope,
which is transcendently connected to the realm of the Spirit, has real impact
on how we live right now in this world. It is not just for the ‘by and by’ nor
is it a utopian dream. The Scripture
says that “we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”
(Hebrews 6:19)
Steady hope that is not subject to the up’s and down’s of life is focused on Christ Jesus and that rests on the foundation of the love of God. This hope is not subject to my failures, does not ebb and flow with good health, sustains us in tragic moments, and reaches beyond this present life to Heaven. This hope inspires us to live joyful and purposeful lives. Do you know that hope? Have you trusted Christ Jesus as your Savior?
Remember, this is more than
an emotional response. It is a choice to receive God’s offer of life. If the day
is darkened by disappointment, look up. Open up to the love of God. If you have
found yourself chasing the mirages of false hopes, pray for eyes that can ‘see’
the hope of Christ Jesus. It is a hope
that never fails us – now, tomorrow, and into eternity.
Meditate on this word from the Word and live hopefully! "As the deer pants for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and stand before him?" (Psalm 42:1-2, NLT) "Why am I discouraged? Why so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and my God." (Psalm 42:5, NLT)
(Video of this blog at this link)
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My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus' name
On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand
When darkness veils His lovely face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In ev'ry high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil
His oath His covenant His blood
Support me in the whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way
He then is all my hope and stay
When He shall come with trumpet sound
O may I then in Him be found
Dressed in His righteousness alone
Faultless to stand before the throne
William Batchelder Bradbury
Words: Public Domain
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