Hope, what is hope? A beautiful name for a baby girl? Wishful thinking, like sportsmen or women hoping to win the game? A family hoping for good weather for their day at the beach?

In the world’s eyes, hope is nothing more than a hit-and-miss expression of desire, or anticipation of something that may or may not happen.

Outside of God, hope is insecure, based on chance or on the efforts of those who hope for success.

Paul evaluated the destiny of the Gentiles who had no faith in God and were without hope. He was referring to another kind of hope.

Ephesians 2:11-12 NLT
[11] “Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders…. [12] In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.”

In God’s way, hope is the rock-solid reality of what is yet to happen because God has promised. So reliable are God’s promises that Paul called God Himself “the God of hope”.

Romans 15:13 NIV
[13] “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.”

The New Living Translation calls Him “God, the source of hope”. This means that any real hope we might have in this world starts with God. Any expectation of good things to come flows from God and is expressed in His promises, His intention to do what He says.

So, the letter to the Hebrews tells us that we have hope by faith. We attach faith to God’s promises that make what we hope for, happen.

Hebrews 11:1 NLT
[1] “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.”

Our faith in God’s promises is the proof that WHAT He has promised is real and will happen.

Let me explain with a simple illustration. I decide to bake a cake, so I find a recipe which is illustrated by a picture of the cake I want to bake. The picture represents my “hope”. I gather my ingredients, and mix them together by following the recipe. By doing what the recipe says, I prove my “faith” in the recipe that will take me to the picture, until I finally reach my goal.

So, faith is confidence in God’s promise, the hope that keeps me going as I faithfully follow the “recipe” in God’s Word that will get me to the “picture”… God’s promise fulfilled.

Many times, in Paul’s letters, he joins hope to faith and love that are the three enduring characteristics of God’s children. For example,

1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT
[13] “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”

To the Thessalonians, Paul wrote…

1 Thessalonians 1:3 NIV
[3] “We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

… three qualities that set them apart as God’s children.

Why do we need this kind of hope?

There is nothing more soul-destroying than to live without hope. The worst thing about having no hope is that people give up. When they give up, they stop living. Some take the “easy” way out – they take their own lives. Others vegetate, even in psychiatric facilities, no longer taking responsibility for themselves. Still others kick over the traces by turning to crime.

God has provided a fool-proof way out of this predicament. He did something greater than any human could have done. He gave us hope! How did He do this? By changing our direction and destiny!

He brought us back from spiritual death, caused by sin, by a spiritual resurrection through His power.

He changed our direction which was away from Him because of the great barrier of sin between us and God. We kept running from Him because we were afraid of His judgment.

He changed our destiny from hell to heaven by removing the sin-barrier that separated us.

Ephesians 2:11-13 NIV
[11] “Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— [12] remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. [13] But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

He changed our hopeless situation into hope, the picture of the end product. Instead of a black hole in the future, we now have the hope of eternal life as members of His forever family in His eternal kingdom.

This means that this kind of hope produces perseverance and endurance, great qualities for coping with a world gone crazy. Without hope in a secure and certain future, it’s no wonder so many people are fearful and depressed!

We can only acquire this kind of hope when we turn to the Lord, believe in Jesus and what He did for us. We will receive His gift of eternal life and the Holy Spirit who will guide us safely to our eternal destiny.

To be continued…