Hope. Where do we find hope? Is there any hope as we look around to a hurting world around us, particularly in this time when a pandemic is affecting the whole globe?
As I think about this question, I’m drawn to ask another one. What types of things do you tend to put your hope in? Do you put your hope in your health? Or your family and friends? Or doctors? Or the government? Or maybe it’s in your job? How about in sports or physical activity?
All of those things are wonderful things, but what happens when they fall apart? For many across the world, these are the exact things that have fallen apart. Many have lost their jobs or are having health issues. Doctors are working incredibly hard, but there is still no cure for this illness affecting so many. Almost everyone is secluded to their own houses, away from their extended family and friends. So, if these things that we often put our hope in are guaranteed to fail us at some point, is there any hope in this world?
Throughout the past week of celebrating Holy Week and Easter, (check out this post and this post for how we celebrated!) I was struck with this idea of HOPE.
The dictionary defines hope as: a feeling of expectation and a desire for something particular to happen. This defines hope as something that might happen. We hope we win the baseball game on Saturday or we hope to get a job we are working towards.
But the Bible defines hope very differently. Hebrews 6:11 talks about “the full assurance of hope until the end” and Hebrews 11:1 proclaims that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” A biblical definition of hope is a confident assurance for something good to happen. It doesn’t just desire something to happen, it expects with confidence that it will happen. This is massively different than the way we often think about hope!
The very first question of the New City Catechism even talks about hope! It states:
“Q: What is our only hope in life and death? A: That we are not our own but belong to God.”
Our only hope is that we belong to God. And how is it that we belong to God? It is because of Christ’s death and resurrection that we can be forgiven our sin and be in a relationship with God. 1 Peter 1:3 says “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.” This LIVING HOPE is experienced because of Christ’s resurrection! This is exactly what has been on my heart and mind as we traveled through the week leading up to Easter.
In the midst of all that is happening in our daily lives and around the world, through all the heartache and pain, and the ups and downs of life, JESUS is our only, true HOPE.
Now before you think this is just the easy way out kind of answer, let me just tell you that it’s not. While it doesn’t diminish the struggle and heartache that we experience in our lives, because that is real. It is hard. And by no means should we just dismiss these hard things and choose to not deal with them or mourn them. No, it means that as we struggle through these things, we lean on our only hope with all that we’ve got. He truly is our only hope. Let me give you a few more reasons why.
Jesus is the creator and sustainer of all the earth! Colossians 1:16b-17 says “all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” He not only created all things but HE is the one sustaining all things. It is not medicine or health care that is ultimately sustaining our bodies, it is Jesus! He is holding all things together in the world, including each one of us. He was there in creation and He is the same as He was yesterday, today, and forever. His character is unchanging.
Jesus drew near to us to make a way for us to have hope for eternity. Colossians 1 then goes on to say in verses 19-20 that “in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” It is through the blood of his cross that He brings peace to all by bringing us back to a right relationship with God. We were once alienated from God because of our sin, it separated us from him for now and for all eternity. Talk about a hopeless state.
We were without hope until Jesus rescued us. The consequence for our sin was eternal death and separation from God. But because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross in our place, we can be brought back to God if we believe in Him and follow Him. We then have the promise of eternal life with God. This is our eternal hope that we look forward to as we look to the day when all the pain and suffering and heartache of this world will be no more, and we will worship God in His presence forevermore! This is the eternity we hope for!
Jesus draws near to us each day to give us hope for today. As believers in Jesus, we don’t only have hope for eternal life- it’s not just about what happens after this life, it is hope for today too. Throughout each and every day, we have hope to look forward to and yearn for in the future, but we also have a hope to live for in Christ each day. This doesn’t mean we won’t get sick or that nothing bad will ever happen to us, but it does mean we have hope to be given peace in our circumstances through Christ and it means we have Him to lean on as we are struggling through whatever it is that is happening at that moment in our lives. We live each day knowing that whatever tomorrow brings, JESUS will be sufficient for all our needs. He will be with us and sustain us through it all. He will never let us down and nothing can ever separate us from His love.
Romans 8:35, 37-39 says “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? …No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Thanks be to God for the hope we have because of the death and resurrection of Christ! He is risen and this gives us hope that we serve a living God who not only created but also sustains the whole universe, and who gives us hope for both today and forevermore! So, as we struggle with the daily what-ifs of today and tomorrow, we can find our confident hope in Christ alone who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and will surely do everything that He promises He will do! Let us always be “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2.
He is risen indeed! Happy Easter!