What is hope? One dictionary defines it this way: “to wish for a particular event that one considers possible.” According to the same source, an archaic definition of the same word implies, “having confidence or trust.” How many times have you and I said, “I hope. . .!
King David was full of hope, not from a human standpoint, but from his faith in the One and only LORD God. In his 62nd Psalm, David opens with extreme confidence saying, “my soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.” (Psalm 62:1) Later in the same psalm, David says, “…my hope comes from Him. (verse five, paraphrased) St. Paul in Romans fifteen gives you and me this great doxology. Listen! “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)
In my trusty study Bible, I have a written note in the margin from a sermon that was delivered by the late Reverend Russ Blowers. Pastor Blowers was the senior pastor of East 91st. Street Christian Church where my son attended back in 2001. My wife and I attended services with him one Sunday (9/2/2001). The pastor’s message was taken from Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth. (1 Cor. 13, the Love Chapter) My margin note from his sermon reads as follows, “hope is never ill when faith is well.”
If you examine the Greek word elipis (hope), Biblehub gives you this meaning: “expectation of what is sure (certain).” This spiritual definition is a distant cousin to the modern human definition. Reviewing Paul’s doxology listed above we can clearly see that by trusting in Him (faith), our hope fills us with all joy and peace.
Faith is yet another term from a spiritual perspective that has some ethereal component. The author to the Hebrews reminds each of us from the great Faith Chapter that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.” (Hebrews 11:1 paraphrased) The Greek word pistis (faith) is used throughout the New Testament (“N. T.”). Biblehub includes this phrase that is gives much clarity to the Christian. Listen! Faith is. . . “God’s divine persuasion.” The Apostle John reminds you and me in his first epistle that “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” (1 John 5:4) Yes, John too reminds us that our spiritual hope overcomes the world and its sinful nature. To God be the glory!
Let us not forget that faith and hope are only two parts of the famous triangle. The third component is LOVE! Not physical or brotherly love (eros or phileo, respectively), but the heavenly, and non-relenting love (agape) that is only from above. St. Paul closes his thirteenth chapter in 1 Corinthians by saying, “And these…three remain faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor. 13:13) While we cannot love perfectly as God’s love for His creation, we can in faith, love our neighbor as ourselves, as Moses writes in his Pentateuch. If we have not love, says Paul, then all else is in vain. Yes, our faith is shallow, and our hope is not well as Pastor Blowers noted.
In summary, we all need to be reminded that the love for our neighbor strengthens our faith in the One True God and confirms our eternal hope for a future with Him in eternity. May God grant you an increasing measure of love for His creation and a “confidence” that He will lead others to that same joy and peace generated by hope.
Peace
Connected in Him, I stand
GHR
PS Listen to the hymnist:
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus blood and righteousness.
No merit of my own I claim
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ the solid rock I sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
(LSB 575, verse one; Edward Mote, 1797-1874)
