Advent | Hope

“Human beings are hope-shaped creatures. The way you live now is completely controlled by what you believe about your future.”

-Tim Keller

Have you ever thought about the power of hope? We are fueled by it. It is what gets us out of bed in the morning - the hope that today we will get the job done, that we will receive recognition, or that our goals will be attained. Whatever it is, hope is at the core of everything we do. It is our driving force. 

I love what Keller says in his book Walking with God through Pain and Suffering, namely that hope is defined by how we view the future. Each of us wants to believe that everything will be okay, that things will work out, that the mistakes we make in the present won’t define us in the future. Hope changes everything. 

Think about this for you for a moment…what are you hoping for right now? Are you hoping that you will be a successful parent? Or that you will reach your career or financial goals? Do you hope that all of your wildest dreams will come true? I hope for all those things as well, but if that is the extent of our hope, we have missed its deeper meaning.

The problem is that many of us believe hope is just positive thinking. So much so, that we think if we believe something will happen, it can happen. If we drown out the negatives and only focus on the positives, our hopes will come to fruition. But I would argue that what I have just defined is no more than positive thinking and is not the true hope that has been created within us. We cannot ourselves “will” something into being just because we hope it will happen or come true because we think positively. We do not have that power.

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.

-1 Peter 1:13

What does it mean to set or fix our hope on something? It's a question of where we will turn to find meaning for our lives, to find relief from suffering, to fill up the emptiness that every soul experiences. While I do hope to be a good father, a successful provider, and to achieve my goals, that is not where I set my eternal hope. 

When we make the decision to passionately cling to the hope of the gospel, we experience a hope that is not dependent on what we do but on what He has done. Like the prophets of the Old Testament, we eagerly hope for the coming Messiah to return to rescue us from our suffering and present darkness. And unlike the hope I put in my work this God-instilled hope waits and endures. It isn’t flimsy or merely positive thinking. It can withstand fire, trials, and despair. 

So, what do you hope for?

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

-1 Corinthians 1:27