Hope equals confident expectation, not vague desire. It is not wishful thinking. It is not “I don’t know if it is going to happen, but I hope it happens.” Hope sets a course of life that is determined by the thing expected. Hope is based on the promises of God, which are realized fully in His Son. (1 Pet. 1:13).

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First Timothy 1:1 says that Jesus Christ is our hope. Colossians 1:27 describes Christ “in you, the hope of glory.” Early Christians like Ignatius, when he was on his way to execution in Rome wrote to the church at Ephesus: “Be of good cheer in God the Father and in Jesus Christ our common hope.” Polycarp wrote: “Let us therefore persevere in our hope and the earnest of our righteousness, who is Jesus Christ.” Hope is to be found only in Jesus Christ!

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Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (Jn. 14: 6). In Jn. 8:24, He said: “If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” Since Jesus is our hope, it is important that we be found in Him. This is accomplished in obedience to His gospel, with baptism being the culminating step, (Rom. 6:3-4; Gal. 3:26-27) i. e., “being born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Pet. 1:3). Put your faith in Jesus Christ and you can face the future with hope. Actually, hope is faith in the future tense. Without faith in Christ there is no future hope. As one wrote: “Life with Christ is an endless hope; without Him a hopeless end!” The words of a hymn we sing often expresses it well:

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“Look away from the cross to the glittering crown,
From your cares weary one look away;
There’s a home for the soul, where no sorrow can come,
And where pleasures will never decay.”

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Where is your hope my friend? Think on these things.

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Dennis Abernathy