In our Hope Lives series, we’ve talked about how the hope we have in Jesus can be present in every area of our lives: in our marriages and relationships, in our finances, and even in times of suffering. It’s fitting that we’re wrapping up this series so close to Election Day. It can be easy to put our hope in politicians and the belief that, if the wrong person is elected, there’s no salvaging our country or world. Luckily, we can build our hope on Jesus and we know that it’s a hope that can’t be swayed, no matter what the world might throw at it.
Before we can talk about the hope that Jesus brings to us and our world, we first need to talk about why hope is important. Hope is an incredible motivator for humans. If someone has tremendous hope for an end result, they’re far more likely to attempt great things and stay the course when they’re met with challenges and obstacles. If someone doesn’t have hope, they’ll give up at the first sign of trouble…if they even attempt great things to begin with. And since hope is so vitally important to us and what we do, it’s even more important that we put our hope in the right things. A Christian hope—built on Jesus’ death and resurrection—has several key characteristics to it.
Read Ephesians 1.8–14.
Christian hope has both a cosmic and individual dimension to it. In verse 10, Paul tells us that God’s plan is to bring unity to all things. God is planning to renew and recreate all of creation—heaven and earth. Eventually, God’s world will be a place where death, suffering, pain, corruption, and sin don’t exist.
Often, we tend to overlook this cosmic dimension to our hope. We dream for a day when we won’t have to live on this earth anymore. Biblically, though, our hope is much more beautiful than that: someday, God will renew the earth to what His original plan for it was, and all His people will find their home in it.
Question: Do your best to imagine a renewed earth. What will it look like? What aspect of the earth’s renewal is most compelling to you?
The great thing about this passage in Ephesians is that it doesn’t only talk about hope on a broader, cosmic scale. It talks about hope that we can take hold of on a much more personal level.
Re-read Ephesians 1.11–12.
God’s plan doesn’t stop at just renewing His creation. He’s also calling every single person as His chosen ones. He’s choosing us to be His sons and daughters who experience freedom, forgiveness, and purpose through Him. When we have hope like this, there are three ways that it impacts our lives very practically.
1. Christian hope gives us confidence that our best days are ahead of us.
Romans 8.28 tells us that, in all things, God works for the good of His children. He’s not just working for our good in our wins and victories, but even in our setbacks and trials. We have hope that God is using our setbacks and hard times for His purpose, and that it is ultimately good.
2. Christian hope assures us that our work is not in vain.
Read Revelation 21.23–24.
This verse can be a little hard to comprehend, since it’s talking about a future day that none of us have experienced yet. What it does suggest, though, is that God is planning to redeem the work we’ve done here on earth when he renews and redeems it. The seeds of our work today will come to full fruition in eternity.
3. Christian hope reminds us that evil doesn’t have the last word.
This can be especially hard to remember in the midst of a difficult election. But when we give too much credit and power to our politicians, we’re actually taking it away from God. No matter what happens or who gets elected, it is all part of God’s divine purpose. And that is the kind of hope that matters most. As long as Jesus is on the throne, we have hope that goes beyond who gets elected and what the national headlines read.
Question: Do you have this kind of hope in your life? If so, what’s the most amazing way that you’ve seen it play out in your own life? If you haven’t experienced it yet, what’s the thing that you’re most looking forward to it doing in your life?
Having Christian hope can bring amazing changes to our life, but we also need to realize how we build that hope and the reason for it. If hope isn’t built on something solid, it will evaporate the second we hit setbacks or trials. In our culture, hope can be an uncertain and flimsy thing: “I hope it’s good weather,” or “I hope my team wins tomorrow.” Biblical hope is much different. In Hebrews 11.1, we see that hope is secure, confident, firm and assured. It’s not wishy-washy and based on emotions or situations that are constantly changing. Christian hope is based on the rock solid death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Question: What is the one thing you’re most tempted to place your hope in (relationships, job, money, etc.)? How has that hope changed based on situations or emotions?
We’ve talked about how important hope is, what Christian hope can do in our lives, and what it’s built on. So how do we take hold of the hope that God gives us through His son? If you’re not a follower of Jesus, the answer is relatively simple: make a decision to put your trust in Him and choose to believe that His hope, renewal and love extends to you.
But putting your faith in Jesus isn’t where taking hold of Christian hope ends. Instead, it’s a continuous process.
Read Ephesians 1.17–19.
In this passage, Paul is praying for people that are already Christians, and he’s praying that God would continue to reveal His hope to them in new ways. This tells us two things: our grasp of the hope we have in Jesus should always be growing, and we need continuous experiences with the Holy Spirit for that to happen. This is why taking time to read the Bible, be in prayer, and spend time with God is so incredibly important to our lives as followers of Jesus.
Recent Comments