Hope

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Hope For A Christian

Is hope an option for a Christian, is it rooted in optimism, or is it rooted in the knowledge that our hope is connected to our faith and in this way we can be assured that the Lord will walk the path of life with us? In this podcast, we explore what the meaning of faith is for a Christian.

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Show Host Notes: 

As Christians, we are called to live with joy in this world, so we need the virtue of hope. Hope is a virtue, it is something that some people have in abundance and others have to work towards. For example, the Cardinal Virtues are known by past civilizations and we teach them today are Justice, Temperance, Prudence, and Fortitude. Not until Christianity did we hear the term, “Theological virtues,” and these are Faith, Hope, and Love.

We are encouraged to have hope – not optimism. Why is that? Anyone can be optimistic. Optimism is more on chance that maybe things will turn out well and maybe they won’t. That is not what Christian Hope stands for at all. It isn’t a chance that things will work out. It is a knowledge that if they don’t work out, God is with us.

Therefore, hope is rooted in faith – faith is when we entrust ourselves to another – we place our trust in God. Faith is a relationship I have faith in Jesus I have faith in God myself. Hope is rooted in the belief of a future good.

Hope for a Christian is rooted in maturity. A Christian believes that God’s promise is rock solid! Hebrews 6 is amazing, read all of it, but for our purposes, I want to read you a section:

Hebrews: 3-20

When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

This hope is not in ourselves – in our abilities, in what we can do without God, or that we don’t need God. No, this hope is a claim that we need God because our faith tells us that the truth is God has promised us this hope and … “we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” God doesn’t lie!

Hope is this trust looking forward to the future. This relationship with Jesus, our trust in God – He won’t fail me. And hope is the knowledge that God will be with me…it is personal!

The opposite of hope is despair. Despair is the thought or belief that we don’t have Him and that He is not here or us, or worse that we can not trust God because I don’t believe he will walk with us through our issues or problems… but he will!

These two Scriptures should help:

Romans 8:24-25

 “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

and this one, I love from Romans 8:31 “If God is for us, who can be against us”

And we have the hope of the Resurrection! At the end of time we will be raised, those of us who believe, we live in the “Easter” of hope – that is the Risen Christ. God has paid the price and we as believers reap the benefits. It is a belief that we will have eternal life with Christ. It is only possible by the hope that God gives us.

We long for this hope when we look at Jesus on the Cross when we see a cross without Jesus on it when we see the empty tomb at Easter or the risen Christ in pictures. Jesus has conquered death — yet we still worry and doubt. The resurrection showed us the future or what will someday be our future, life in heaven with God. We should not fear, we should know that it will come, in God’s perfect timing.

Let us pray – Praise you Jesus that you have risen and in this, you give us everlasting hope. You give us the hope that surpasses all understanding, please give us the grace to understand and to be strong, the grace not to despair, the grace to believe that you are there for us always and walk alongside us. Continue to give us the faith and the hope that we can do all things through You! I praise you and I thank you always, Amen!

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