Holding Onto Hope
How’s your hope these days? That was a strange question to me. I really hadn’t thought about it. If I was to be honest, I’d say it was about a 3 out of 10. But you know, I felt obligated to answer appropriately with "It’s great!" In a season celebrating the arrival of hope, it can feel very hopeless. Even though it’s Christmas time, it can feel very lonely.
How important is hope? Is it really something we should prioritize, or is it more of a feeling of sorts. Is it rooted in emotionalism, or something solid? I’m starting to realize, hope is a necessity to life. I’ve heard it said, a man can live a few weeks without food, a few days without water, a few minutes without oxygen, but not one second without hope.
We know three virtues transcend this life into the next. Faith, hope and love last forever. We tend to focus greatly on faith and love, but rarely hope. I think faith is rooted in our past; knowing that if God has been faithful once, He will be faithful again. Love focuses on the present. It takes love to interact and have community with the people in our lives. But hope—it’s a little different. Hope focuses on the future. Hope is the expectancy that goodness is coming. Hope is having something out in front of us to look forward to. When we have no hope in the future, we lose all power in the present.
Thankfully, even when this season can feel hopeless, we know feelings can’t be trusted. The truth is, we have hope. We have hope of a better tomorrow. We have hope of a brighter future. We have the hope of heaven, and the reality of God’s abiding presence. So, how’s your hope these days? Find something out front and expect for God’s goodness to spring forth in your life. And know this, we have a hope, so secure and true, that it anchors our souls. This hope is Jesus.
How important is hope? Is it really something we should prioritize, or is it more of a feeling of sorts. Is it rooted in emotionalism, or something solid? I’m starting to realize, hope is a necessity to life. I’ve heard it said, a man can live a few weeks without food, a few days without water, a few minutes without oxygen, but not one second without hope.
We know three virtues transcend this life into the next. Faith, hope and love last forever. We tend to focus greatly on faith and love, but rarely hope. I think faith is rooted in our past; knowing that if God has been faithful once, He will be faithful again. Love focuses on the present. It takes love to interact and have community with the people in our lives. But hope—it’s a little different. Hope focuses on the future. Hope is the expectancy that goodness is coming. Hope is having something out in front of us to look forward to. When we have no hope in the future, we lose all power in the present.
Thankfully, even when this season can feel hopeless, we know feelings can’t be trusted. The truth is, we have hope. We have hope of a better tomorrow. We have hope of a brighter future. We have the hope of heaven, and the reality of God’s abiding presence. So, how’s your hope these days? Find something out front and expect for God’s goodness to spring forth in your life. And know this, we have a hope, so secure and true, that it anchors our souls. This hope is Jesus.
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