Hope Is Real

Do you have a favorite word? One of mine is hope.

Hope is real, and it lives in truth and can’t be mistaken as false hope. When one makes things way too optimistic regarding something that has a strong chance of not happening, that is false hope. In error, humans often choose this.

False hope, when finished leading you on, leads to despair.

Losing hope teaches us to live in the light of real hope. I’ve had just enough pain in my life to know how valuable hope is to my emotional survival. I’ve experienced its power!

The Bible speaks of two kinds of hope.

Eternal hope. Eternal means it is going to last! It’s without end. God is infinite and without end. He is Living hope

It’s living because it resides inside our spirit. Because of the resurrection, Jesus is our living Savior, our living Hope.

Hope makes life

worth living
worth striving for
worth fighting against the darkness
worth every ounce of directed energy to hang on to
diminishes skepticism with quiet confidence
and
overrides doubt.

There’s no easy path to get to this point.

We may go through storms, dark tunnels, raging rivers, sleepless nights, and the question of why. As we cling to Jesus, we find His promises are true, and He is faithful. In the end, we learn, He is our hope.

Hope has, within its nature, longing for more. That’s when a believer looks to a life promised beyond this. Heaven. Those in Christ have a home in heaven.

Looking forward to heaven is closely aligned with hope.

Hope, for the believer, causes a radically different approach in terms of residing on planet earth.

It’s about WHO is our Hope. Because of Jesus, our spirit is sustained, no matter the circumstances. We, as believers, have the God of Hope living in us. Even in the dark nights of the soul, we have a God big enough to absorb our despair and aching souls. He is our Hope.

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. Romans 15:13

This concept of hope is too big to cover in one blog. I will post more about this supernatural quality given to every believer in Christ Jesus. Until then . . .

“Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.” C.S. Lewis

Dear God of Hope, help me to look to you only for all my expectations, all my fears, all my wonderings. This life is finite and you are my infinite and holy God. Help me to trust you and to be encouraged in my spirit today by the hope you give to all who follow you. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

• Valerie Rumfelt is an on-mission writer, sharing winning ways to follow Jesus
• She and her husband, Clark, formerly served with the NAMB and have been church planters in Canada and Rhode Island and were the Executive Directors for Buried Treasures Home
• They will be serving with the IMB in Japan and working as a part of Southern Baptist efforts to be a light among the many people living in darkness.
• You can follow Valerie’s blogs on valerierumfelt.com