We're surrounded by the word "hope."
Campaigns have used it as a promise, a theme, a catch phrase. It's
commonly as encouragement- "There is always hope" is one of those
phrases that's used a ton on social media and memes and all kinds of
things. "I Hope..." is the title of many songs. In fact, that's one of
the ways we use it most- with an "I" in front of it.
"I hope he calls." "I hope I make the basketball team." "I hope I pass
my LSAT." "I hope her chemo shrinks the tumor." "I hope this wrinkle
cream works." "I hope this is the month I get those two pink lines."
From the big things to the little things, we hope.
In Ephesians, Paul tells us that God has called us to hope. What does that even mean?
Well, I think an important distinction needs to be made here.
See, there are two different definitions of the word "hope."
The Way the World Defines "Hope:"
:
the feeling of wanting something to happen and thinking that it
could happen : a feeling that something good will happen or be true, the chance that something good will happen
While there isn't necessarily anything wrong with "worldly" hope, it does present us with some problems.
It's not certain.
There's a chance, but no guarantee.
If I'm hoping to get that check in the mail and I don't, I'm disappointed.
If I hope that a loved one will beat cancer and she doesn't, it's more
than disappointment. I'm being beaten against the rocks of my hope,
crushed, torn apart.
Worldly hope has the very real possibility of letting us down, and when it does, we can be devastated.
This type of hope also makes us trust
in something fleeting or out of our control. Putting my hope in this particular wrinkle cream may very well be misguided.
I
might have hope that my husband brings me flowers, but
he's human- and
humans mess up and disappoint us. I might study very hard for a test,
hoping that I pass, but my trust is really in my own intellect, or maybe
even my flash cards!
Trusting in something fallible makes us vulnerable to disappointment.
Surely, that's not the hope Paul is talking about here. God wouldn't
call us to to be let down and devastated, or to put our trust in the
wavering things of this world. Why would He want us to know that kind of
hope?
The Way the Bible Defines "Hope:"
:to expect with confidence, expectation of fulfillment or success, to place trust in the promise of a future event, to anticipate with certainty
As Christians, we hope in something we
know. As the saying goes, "We've read the end of the story, and we know who wins."
We have a future in heaven, through the blood of Christ. We trust in that, we put our hope in that. We know that the God who loves us works
all things for our good. That's hope. That's our focus.
But oh, my goodness, that is hard.
How do we go about living a life filled with Biblical hope?
These are the two things I've been focusing on, recently.
Remember
"This I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,
For his compassions never fail, they are new every morning;
Great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion;
Therefore, I will wait for him.' " -Lamentations 3:21-24
It may be an event in our own life- an answered prayer, an event (that
seemed like a total mess at the time) where you can see God's leading
now, a miracle...
It may be a Biblical event, the life of a founder of the Church, or even reflecting on the cross.
Remember God's faithfulness to you, and remind yourself that God is your portion.
Rejoice
"...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. You see,
at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for
the ungodly." - Romans 5:2-7
Rejoicing in suffering seems totally counter intuitive, doesn't it? Trusting
that God will produce good things in our lives through our suffering provides us hope for the future. And isn't it amazing what it says here?
Hope does not disappoint us- because God has poured his love into our
hearts! God obviously knows what's best for me- He
made me, after all. And I know that God
loves me. I have to trust in that. I have my hope in that.
That's the hope to which He's called me- to the hope of my salvation
through the death of Christ, to the assurance that what He's promised
will be fulfilled, the trust in His goodness and mercy towards a sinner
like me.
We also got apples from the farm. An abundance of apples. Tons of apples.
