What is the reason for the hope that you have? Is your hope based on the promises of politicians? Is your hope based on your performance at work? Is your hope based on your spouse? Is your hope based on giving your kids a shot at a better life than you’ve had? Is your hope based on the next generation of leaders? Is your hope based on your financial situation? Is your hope based on the human spirit? Is your hope based on education? Is your hope based on religious activity? What is the reason for the hope that you have?
The problem with a hope that is based in this world is that it will fail you. I know, that sounds horribly pessimistic, but lets be honest. Politicians make promises when running and pander when the race is over. Jobs end. Spouses disappoint. Kids turn out remarkably like us. The next generation of leaders has never quite measured up to our goals for them. Markets crash. The human spirit is crushed daily and has yet to conquer death. Once you graduate, very few people care. Works of either the Mosaic Law or some weaker version we write will justify no one. So, what is the reason for the hope that you have?
Is despair all there is? By all means, no!
1 Peter 1.3-5 states, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Those who are followers of Christ, who are united to Christ by faith, though we be strangers in a strange land, elect exiles, God the Father has caused us to be born again to a living hope. The living hope that we have is based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because Christ is the victor, we will be victorious. Because death could not hold Christ, death will not hold us. Because Christ rose from the dead, there is more than despair. Because Christ rose from the dead, there is hope.
Paul wrote in Romans 5.1-5, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Could it be that Paul calls us to rejoice in our sufferings because our worldly sufferings drive us to Christ who is the surety of our hope? What is the reason for the hope that you have? Christ rose from the dead!
Hi Kevin, I like this! Here’s something –
The other day I was driving through a small town to mail a letter. I didn’t know where the post office might be. I’d hoped that it was located on the public square, and so I was driving that way. But my hope was really just a wish. I had no evidence, no reason to think that my hunch was correct. And so beneath it all I experienced a certain worry that I would not actually find the post office, that my hunch, my wish, would turn out to be a dead end. Then while stopped at a traffic light I saw a postman standing on the sidewalk. I asked him could he tell me where the post office might be. He said, “Sure, take a right turn, then go up two blocks. I just came from there.” Now, I had hope. I could focus on driving, confident that I would not run into a dead end or circle the town square without purpose. It seems to me that somehow Jesus is like that, when it comes to “What is the truth?” His qualifications tell me He has been there. Because of the resurrection, He is the only One qualified to tell me “where the post office might be.” Without Jesus, everything is like driving through a strange town, circling the square, looking for something you’re never sure about, and all of it based on a hunch and a wish.