On Hope

Hope is a positive word isn't it? Everybody from gamblers to priests, politicians included, hope for something! Just what is hope? It's what people say to be positive and gain support. It's what people want to hear to sooth their anxiety! "Hope" is valuing a desire so strongly that it will happen with certainty. It's anticipating that a person's desire will be met.

Let's see what some people hope for:

• Gamblers hope to win the jackpot.
• Scientists hope to find a cure for cancer.
• Workers hope to retire comfortably.
• Politicians hope to win elections.
• Parents hope their children succeed.
• Teachers hope they are effective.
• Pacifists hope wars will end.
• Voters hope for a better economy and a good life.
• and on and on!

All these "hopes" are for positive things to happen! All the people and groups anticipate that their desires will be met. Sometimes in spite of the odds, they hold onto their hope. It's what motivates people to continue on. It took Edison years to find the perfect element for the common light bulb, with a reasonable lifespan. All along, he hoped that the next experiment would be the one. He was certain that at some point he would find the right alloy to make a light bright and long-lasting. Without hope he would have tried one alloy, failed, gave up, and maybe people would have still been in the dark for years.

Hope implies that good things will happen! That may not be the case though because "hope" as does "change" is directional. We are acclimated to believe that "hope" is toward the good, but the hope of others is for their own good which may be devastating to others. For instance:

• I hope you fail in what you do.
• Gamblers hope you loose to them.
• I hope you get what you deserve.
• Evil people hope you die!
• Pro-abortionists hope you can find someone to abort your baby.
• Politicians hope you fall for their lies.
• Criminals hope they don't get caught.
• Homosexuals hope they'll be accepted.
• Some of the things the Pope hopes for, I don't because I don't believe it's scriptural.
• and on and on!

There are probably an equal number of hopes with negative outcomes as positive. For instance, if one gambler hopes he'll win, requires a hope that another gambler loses. My point is that "hope" may not be what it seems to be, and when the masses hear the word "hope" they perk up. I don't! I ask for more information.

I do have a "hope".  It's of utmost importance in the Bible, and therein it's always in a positive aspect. Oftentimes "hope" stands alone in the verse, not needing further clarification. Why? After God created us, the first thing he offered mankind was "hope" because he supplied everything of the heart's desire. Eden was a pretty positive place! It was Utopian from a standpoint of "goodness", pleasure, health, and essentials. Where else could man commune with his Creator? 

There are places in scripture where people lost their "hope". Even the angels did. Because Adam and Eve wanted to be like God, they had a "hope" with negative connotations. However, scripture does not refer to those instances as "hope", but sin!

If we look back at the definition of "hope", it includes "confidence" that a desired thing will come about. That confidence or "trust" is faith, so in many ways when the Bible speaks of "hope" it's in the positive notion; it's trust. 

Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Like "faith", "hope" has an invisible component:

Romans 8:24 "For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? "

This verse is a round-about way of saying "If you can see it, you already have it, and what you have can't be hoped for because you've already got it!" Therefore hope, like faith is directed at the unseen, or more specifically, those things beyond the senses.

When Paul wrote to Timothy Jesus had already ascended. He no longer could be seen. Paul professed that Jesus Christ is our "hope", and incidentally, on that hope is where our faith should lie:

1 Timothy 1:1 (The)"...Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope..."

What is it about Jesus that makes him our hope? If he is who he says he is, and that's God, we can trust all that he says! Jesus said many things, did many things and wrought many miracles, and because many people witnessed his ministry, millions today still trust that Jesus is God. Jesus claims to be the way to eternal life, and we trust what he promised to those who believe. Therefore, Jesus is "our hope"!

Now if we merely believe that the purpose of Jesus was to improve humanity, there would be little hope there. However, the main things Jesus offered to all who believe is eternal life. Most people have a strong desire to live forever providing it's to be a good healthy prosperous life. That's what Jesus promised to believers. Paul's desire and all Christians as well, is  "in hope of eternal life". We call that "salvation" because eternal death is what eternal life saves us from, and that's by Jesus Christ and only him!

Titus 1:2 (Paul) "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began..."

You can see from this verse that God promised mankind "eternal life" on the very day man lived. God predestined everybody for eternal life! Adam and Eve shared that promise until they disobeyed God. However, God had mercy on them and provided a way. That's "grace" because "God so loved the world" (John 3:16a). Since God never had plans B, C, D... n, then his only plan from the beginning is that mankind live forever.

Unfortunately "living forever" applies to everybody!

John 5:29 "And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation".

You will be resurrected! Your body and your soul shall exist for eternity. Those who have done "good" (accept and trust Jesus) shall have eternal life and those who have done "evil" (rejected Jesus) will live a tortured existence as the living dead. They in effect will be Zombies who can never die, and suffer forever. No one "hopes" for that, but some curse you, "hoping" that's where you end up. Evil people want you to be evil too! They "hope" you go to hell where they're going because they don't want to obey, and they care little whether you have any hope!

What does anyone have to do to have hope, remembering that hope is to live forever?

Titus 3:7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

We must accept what Jesus did for us. He died in our place. Wasn't that graceful of him? Yes, that's what "grace" is! Although we're all our guilty of sin, Jesus, by his own blood, took our sins, all of them, all of us; and made them his own. When he died for us, we were cleansed from all sin. That's "justification". Incidentally, it's not "As if we never sinned." But "Because we are sinners we were made clean!" In order for Christ's blood to cleanse, sin must have happened. Therefore, it's not "as if we never sinned"!

When we believe (accept and trust is implied). We are "born-again". We're new creatures. Before we had no hope. We were doomed. After believing this the newly created man (or woman) has something different that was not there before. It's "hope". No, we're not "saved" yet because the bus isn't exploding. But as believers who have faith we have "the hope of eternal life", that just as the bus explodes (our death) that Jesus will resurrect us and we'll live forever! Thus, rather than being "saved" we're "safed". We have the assurance that if we love and have faith until the end of our lives, we shall have eternal life. We live on visas in the kingdom of God until we become full citizens there after we're resurrected.

Paul sometimes shortens the "born-again experience" to "saved", but he also calls our salvation a "hope":

1 Thessalonians 5:8 "But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation."

Jesus used the term "saved" as well, but with his foreknowledge, he knew who would endure to the end before the person was ever born!

My main hope is that I have eternal life knowing full well that I don't deserve it! I'm assured of it because of my faith. The devil's role is to trick me out of my faith so that I give it up. Some people do that.  Those who relinquish their faith, lose all hope. As long as a "little faith" is there, some hope lives on. Jesus doesn't require "great faith" to get our reward. His requirement is that we have faith!

I'm confident that I have faith. That confidence gives me hope. What is it that I hope for? That I shall have eternal life just as Jesus promised.

Hope can be stolen. It's tangible. Satan knows how to steal it from you, and that's what he does... all the time. If he convinces you that you have no hope, because you're too bad, etc., then your faith wavers. If it wavers long enough, doubt may ensue. Satan smiles. With doubt comes unbelief. Satan laughs out loud. If we're steadfast in our faith, hope is assured!