Hope

Posted On September 20, 2020

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”

Hebrews 6:19 NIV

Last week we began our exploration of the virtues mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13:13 by discussing faith. We learned that having faith in God means that we trust Him and we obey Him. This week we will continue our exploration by examining hope, which is closely related to faith. As a sci-fi nerd, I couldn’t do a post about hope without including the following clip from my all-time favorite movie:

Princess Leia’s plea to Obi-Wan Kenobi reminds me of the story of the widow’s oil in 2 Kings 4:1-7. In this story, a desperate widow cries out to the prophet Elisha for help:

“The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, ‘Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.’
Elisha replied to her, ‘How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?’
‘Your servant has nothing there at all,’ she said, ‘except a small jar of olive oil.’
Elisha said, ‘Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.’
She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, ‘Bring me another one.’
But he replied, ‘There is not a jar left.’ Then the oil stopped flowing.
She went and told the man of God, and he said, ‘Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.'”

2 Kings 4:1-7 NIV

What struck me about this story is how Elisha was able to help her. He didn’t try to raise money to pay her debts for her. Instead he asked her what she already had to offer. Then he instructed her to go out and do something that would allow God to multiply her offering and use it to provide for her. She came to Elisha with nothing but hope and a little olive oil. Then in faith she had to trust and obey . . . and God was able to bless her and her sons. This story is such a good example of how God often works. He wants us to come to Him in faith and in hope and just take the first step, offering whatever we can. Then He can multiply our small contribution, whatever it may be, into blessings beyond our imagination!

Mark 5:25-34 describes another woman who was desperate for help:

“And a woman was there who had been bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.’ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.”

Mark 5:25-29 NIV

Max Lucado refers to this story when describing what it means to have faith:

“Maybe all you have [is] a crazy hunch and a high hope. You have nothing to give. But you are hurting. And all you have to offer him is your hurt. Maybe that has kept you from coming to God. Oh, you’ve taken a step or two in his direction. But then you saw the other people around him. They seemed so clean, so neat, so trim and fit in their faith. And when you saw them, they blocked your view of him. So you stepped back. If that describes you, note carefully, . . . one person [whom Christ] commended . . . for having faith. It wasn’t a wealthy giver. It wasn’t a loyal follower. It wasn’t an acclaimed teacher. It was a shame-struck, penniless outcast . . . who clutched onto her hunch that he could and her hope that he would. Which, by the way, isn’t a bad definition of faith. A conviction that he can and a hope that he will.“

Max Lucado

Again we see how faith and hope are closely related to each other. And again we see that God wants us to come to Him and offer whatever we can, even if it’s just our hurts. When we come to Him in faith and in hope, He can use whatever we have to offer — our possessions, our time, our talents, our hurts, even our sins — to bless us, to heal us, and to save us. He frees us from our pain and guilt and suffering. He transforms our lives. And we aren’t the only ones who benefit. When we offer ourselves to Him, He can use us to bless others.

“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

The Student Bible Dictionary gives this definition of hope: “Belief that God will accomplish what He has promised. . . . Christian hope is based on the fact that God has always been faithful to do what He said He would do. In the NT [New Testament], Christian hope is never wishful thinking; it is a divine certainty. It points to the ressurrection. . . .”

The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary defines hope this way: “Trustful expectation, particularly with reference to the fulfillment of God’s promises. Biblical hope is the anticipation of a favorable outcome under God’s guidance. More specifically, hope is the confidence that what God has done for us in the past guarantees our participation in what God will do in the future. This contrasts to the world’s definition of hope as ‘a feeling that what is wanted will happen.'”

So Christian hope is more than just a wish. It’s confidence in God’s promises. J. Ellsworth Kalas explains that the basis of the Christian hope is God’s character and God’s intentions for His creation, especially for us:

“To be a Christian is to be a person of hope; and while that quality of hope marks all the life of a Christian, its highest expression is in its serene expectations regarding those matters the secular mind looks upon as endings. The Christian hope understands all such endings are only beginnings. This hope is centered in Jesus Christ, and it represents the crowning demonstration of Christ’s power.”

J. Ellsworth Kalas, Christian Believer

Christ saved us through His death and resurrection and, in doing so, fulfilled God’s promises: “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:20 NIV). Because of this hope that we have as Christians, we can face whatever comes our way. Christ saved us from sin and through Him we have eternal life. So what do we have to fear? We have also been given the gift of the Holy Spirit to reassure us of our place in God’s kingdom: “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:16 NIV). Paul also wrote:

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

Romans 8:22-25 NIV

Christian hope is not just a feeling — it’s not just wishing for everything to turn out okay. God’s already promised us that it will. It will turn out more than okay. God will restore the entire universe, including us, to perfection, and we will live as His beloved children forever. Eternal life with Him will be more amazing and wonderful than we can imagine. To me, Christian hope is like childlike anticipation of Christmas morning. Our gift has already been purchased and is sitting right there in front of us. We are just eagerly awaiting the proper time to unwrap it!

“To many of us, ‘hope’ sounds wishful and tentative, but biblical hope means ‘to anticipate with trust.’ We expect a sure thing, purchased on the Cross, accomplished and promised by an all-knowing God.”

Randy Alcorn

So what does this hope mean for our lives right now? Lee Strobel, in his book The Case for Christ, discusses his investigation of the life of Christ and how it led him to become a Christian. He did a great deal of research and gathered all the facts that he could, and by doing so, he became a believer. He soon realized, however, that if he really did believe, he needed to take the next step and figure out what that meant for his life. His investigation led him to several conclusions:

“If Jesus conquered death . . . he can open the door of eternal life for me, too. If Jesus has divine power . . . he has the supernatural ability to guide me and transform me as I follow him. If Jesus personally knows the pain of loss and suffering . . . he can comfort and encourage me when things go wrong. If Jesus loves me as he says . . . he has my best interests at heart. That means I have nothing to lose and everything to gain by committing myself to him.”

Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ

Before Lee Strobel began his almost two-year examination, he started with a simple, honest prayer: “God, I don’t even believe you’re there, but if you are, I want to find you. I really do want to know the truth. So if you exist, please show yourself to me.” As he advises others who are seeking the truth, “You can use this [prayer] or one of your own. But brace yourself: You may get what you ask for. I did.” All he had to offer was the tiniest bit of hope, but it was enough!

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”

Jeremiah 33:3 NIV

J. Ellsworth Kalas emphasizes the following three aspects of Christian hope:

• Personal hope as individual believers – We do not have to fear death. Because Christ lives, we will live also. Christ assured our salvation through His death and resurrection.
• Hope in Christ’s return – The “blessed hope” that Christ will “return in bodily form to receive his believers, both living and dead, and to begin the consummation of all things” has been a belief of the church throughout the centuries.
• Belief in the kingdom of God – God has a plan for us and for the universe. We don’t know the details, but we know His plan will be accomplished. Because of this, we can rest secure in our hope for the future.
  

“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places shall be made plain, and the crooked places shall be made straight and the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

This week’s Scripture passages focus on hope, the anchor for our souls. There is a printer-friendly pdf version below the image. I have also included a video of the song “All My Hope” by Crowder. This song reminds us that our hope is in Jesus!

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 15:13 NIV

References:

• Alcorn, Randy. Seeing the Unseen, Expanded Edition: A 90-Day Devotional to Set Your Mind on Eternity. Multnomah, 2017.
• Brand, Chad, et. al., editors. Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Holman Reference, 2003.
• “Crowder – All My Hope ft. Tauren Wells.” YouTube, uploaded by Crowder, 19 October 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tElvdnId4Q.
• Dockrey, Karen, et al. The Student Bible Dictionary. Barbour, 2000.
• “Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.” YouTube, uploaded by QuoteTheGuy, 28 January 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cc_h5Ghuj4.
• Kalas, J. Ellsworth. Christian Believer: Knowing God with Heart and Mind — Study Manual. Abingdon Press, 1999.
• Lucado, Max. Grace for the Moment: Inspirational Thoughts for Each Day of the Year. J. Countryman, 2000.
• Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Dir. George Lucas. 20th Century Fox, 1977.
• Strobel, Lee, with Jane Vogel. The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus. Student ed., Zondervan, 2001.

Images:

• Anchor featured image by DESIGNBYTHOLEN from Pixabay
• Anchor with Rope image by makammos2303 from Pixabay
• Coffee image by Bruce Mewett from Pixabay
• Sand Drawing image by Manolo Franco from Pixabay