Hope is such a big word we use to show our likes and dislikes, it is like a small part of our gambling world where we would invest in something uncertain and hope things will work our way. Think about people who hope their favorite football team to win a glorious cup, or hope that their kids will become someone successful or hope that investment will make them debt free. Hope that someone we love would turn to God and give up their worldly bondage, hope this girl would be the right one for us to marry. and the list goes on and on. Hope is such a tricky word to use, because when there is hope there is always chances of failures, disappointment, and anguish. Yet everyday we wake up in the morning hoping for something new.
Let me share a different perspective when it comes to hope as defined in the bible.
Isaiah prophecy that Jesus would be the hope of all the world (Matt 12) yet people that time understood that this hope is someone who would deliver them from the rule of the Romans. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 refuted this claim and said that if "our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world". Paul concludes that our hope is actually in our resurrection.
51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
This hope is also given to us when we confess Jesus Christ is our Lord and live according to His will (Rom 8:24), it is not something that we have to learn or practice, it is the eventual conclusion of our suffering here on earth as we continue to live under His sovereignty and will. Rom 5:3 says
3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
As we can see, the hope offered by God is as solid rock. It is as good as a guarantee. We are not hoping to go to heaven, but we are sure to be there. All our suffering here on earth will only magnify our hope of ressurection. By accepting this hope, we will eventually accept this suffering because we know that this suffering will not last but the reward will be there when we get there.
Rom 8
18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children,[j] including the new bodies he has promised us. 24 We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope[k] for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)
Are you hoping for the right thing?
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