The Only Hope

“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

I’ve been pondering the concept of hope this week.  There seem to be so many people struggling with hopelessness regarding their life circumstances, their relationships, their inabilities and their futures that it got me to thinking about the difference between the Action/Consequence version of hope—our natural, worldly version—and the Death/Resurrection viewpoint—the biblical understanding given to us as a gift by the Holy Spirit.

To hope is to wait in expectation for the fulfillment of what you desire.  The desire is always for something better than what you have.   Hope often has the connotation of rescue, or relief from your current circumstances and is closely associated with belief or faith; to have hope you must be able to believe that your desires will be fulfilled.

To be hopeless then is to have no belief that your desires will be fulfilled; no expectation of anything better than what you have and no expectation of rescue or relief from your current circumstances.  We can live without many things, but we cannot live without hope.  We know this at the core of our beings. The problem is, where can we find true hope? 

From an Action/Consequence perspective, hope is more tentative and fearful than confident because it is based simply on wishing and wanting; or working to fulfill your own dreams; or desiring for someone else to fulfill them for you. 

On the other hand, those with the Death/Resurrection perspective know that the source of all true hope is found in Christ alone.  They hope for what will indeed take place.  Theirs is an assured, confident expectation, looking forward to what God has promised and guaranteed in Christ: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.  Hebrews 11:1”

Romans 8:25 says, “But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”  Those whose hope is in Christ can wait patiently because they have confidence that they will receive the desire of their hearts. 

We can have that confidence because we know that the one who has promised is trustworthy.  Titus 1:2 says we have “…a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time…” 

Action/Consequence tells us to place our hope in money and power as the answer to our hearts’ desires.  We reason that if we have enough money we can buy whatever we need and never have to worry again; and, if we have enough power we can manipulate people into giving us what we want.  But scripture says this is a vain hope:

 “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” 1Timothy 6:17

“When a wicked man dies, his hope perishes; all he expected from his power comes to nothing.” Proverbs 11:7

The message at the root of Action/Consequence is that we should place our greatest hope in ourselves. It tells us, ‘trust yourself, your strength, your abilities, your intelligence, your wisdom to know what is right for you, your worthiness to have the best this world has to offer’.

Death/Resurrection says the opposite; telling us to place our hope in God alone; to depend on his strength and his wisdom to know and to do what is right for us:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Sometimes our circumstances compel us to believe in a good outcome ‘against all hope’, meaning that, despite all earthly evidence to the contrary, we still cling to hope.  From an Action/Consequence perspective, that’s a risky proposition, born of desperation and based only on what we want to happen. 

From a Death/Resurrection perspective, however, depending on what you are hoping for, that is exactly what God prefers, and calls faith.  An example of this is when God told Abraham that he and his wife, Sarah, would finally have a child, something they had longed for all of their lives.  

Romans 4:18-19 says, “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.' Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.”

In this story, God fulfilled for Abraham and Sarah their earthly dream of having a child at a point when it was reasonable for them to have given up all hope.   

Beneath every hope for the Christian is the ultimate hope of reconciliation with God and all of the blessings which are ours in Christ. These have already been secured for us through his death and resurrection. 

While we are on this earth, we "hope" for what has already been accomplished because, when we look at the evidence of our own lives, we see our failures and how far we fall short of what God asks of us; but, like Abraham, God wants us, against all hope—all earthly evidence—to believe that he has done for us what he said he would do—secure for us all of the glorious riches in Christ which we could never possibly earn or deserve.

Action/Consequence hopes only for earthly happiness and fulfillment. Sometimes when we put our hope for earthly happiness in God and we do not get what we want we are angry and disillusioned.  This is due to a misunderstanding of God's purposes. God cares about our earthly happiness, but his primary conern is for our eternal happiness. 

Scripture says, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:32.  And Philippians 4:19 tells us, “…my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”   

But, to put that into perspective Jesus said, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.”  Luke 10:41-42.  There is only one true need-- salvation through Jesus Christ.  Everything else we receive on this earth, whether we consider it good or bad; pleasant or painful; comes to us in relation to that one need; that one hope.

The Apostle Paul wanted us to understand that, in the fulfillment of that one need, we gain access to everything we have always hoped for and more: “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” Ephesians 1:18-19

From an Action/Consequence standpoint, when you encounter someone who is suffering and longing for relief, you can only offer a hope that is no hope at all.  ‘Just hang in there and I’m sure things will work out’.  Or, you can throw empty hope back at their hope, by telling them you hope things get better; but, from a Death/Resurrection perspective, because of the abundant riches the believer has in Christ who came to provide the ultimate rescue, we have everything to offer someone who is losing hope! 

There will be times when God, who sees and knows what is best for us, will save us from the earthly circumstances which are causing us to suffer; but, he does not promise he will always do that. He will not always mend our broken relationships, or heal our broken bodies; sometimes we will lose people or things we thought we could not or would not want to live without; sometimes we will fail when we desperately want to succeed; sometimes the trials will seem to be more than we can bear; But, even when God in his infinite love and wisdom doesn’t change the situations which are breaking our hearts, he is always able to offer us hope. 

Because of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf God promises to be with us in those circumstances, never leaving us or forsaking us; always comforting, encouraging, strengthening and guiding us, until the day finally comes when all hope will be fulfilled.