A teacher, assigned to tutor children hospitalized for extended periods of time, was asked to visit a boy who’d been severely injured and burned. She was an English teacher and was asked to help him understand nouns and verbs.
No one prepared her for the extent of the boy’s injuries. However, she introduced herself and began talking to him about nouns and verbs.
When she returned for another lesson, a few days later, the nurse asked the teacher, “What did you do or say to the boy?” The teacher began to apologize, thinking she had done something wrong, but the nurse mentioned the improvement he had made since the teacher’s first visit. The nurse said, “He’s decided he wants to live!”
The boy had given up hope because he thought he was going to die, but had told his nurse, “But they wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and verbs with a dying boy, would they?”
Hope made the difference!
Hope is to the human spirit, what oxygen is to the lungs. Hope is the music that keeps the heart singing.
When I was looking for a new set of golf clubs a few years ago, the salesman said, “You know what you are buying, don’t you? You are buying hope!”
We all need hope, not just for golf but for life. The Bible talks about extensively about hope, telling us that hope is available no matter what we’re going through.
HOPE IS ESSENTIAL
Without hope, prisoners of war languish in prison, betray their country and die a miserable death. Without hope, students drop out of school. Without hope, addicts return to their habits, marriage partners divorce and artists lose their creativity.
The Bible says hope is not only essential; it is available. There is hope in Jesus for the desperate drunkard, the young single parent, the family trying to make ends meet, the person who living with the emotional scars of a life gone sour and for the person in bondage to life-controlling habits.
HOPE IS OFTEN MISSING
Internationally. I applaud those who work for peace but I really don’t have a great deal of hope that any statesman will be able to bring permanent peace to the Middle East or any other part of the world.
Nationally. Polls show that the level of confidence in America is not going up but down. Not many of us really have hope that the drug problem is going to be solved or that we are going to eradicate poverty in this country.
Personally. People have lost hope in themselves, feeling trapped, alone, isolated and helpless.
Couples who feel trapped by their marriages lose hope that things will ever improve. Some are so deep in debt, they’ve lost hope they will ever be free from financial bondage. Some parents have watched their children make bad choices and today they have lost hope that their children will ever turn out OK.
Spiritually. Many face the grave with no hope. Ephesians 2:12 describes people without hope and without God in the world.
To be without God is to be without hope, and nothing is more tragic. Hopelessness is a terminal condition.
CONSEQUENCES OF NO HOPE
What happens to the person who lives day after day without hope?
Despair.
Despair is the feeling there is no exit. It’s the debilitating sense that comes from feeling “boxed in” with no way out.
Fatalism.
Despair leads to fatalism and people just quit trying. Some call it “give-up-itis.” When you don’t see any possible solutions, you quit trying to find one.
Polling companies like the Gallup Poll, report a remarkable shift in the level of hope in America. They talk about the “disruption of optimism” and say those under 40 are the least optimistic.
When people feel they are nothing more than a blip on someone’s computer, they feel there is nothing they can do, and say, “I’ll accept my lot in life and ride out the storm.”
I’ve seen this in marriage counseling. As long as there is hope, people work at a relationship. But once hope is gone, people quit trying and when people quit trying, it just hastens the end.
Suicide.
For some people, the final consequence of hopelessness may be death. Jean Paul Sartre, the French existentialist philosopher wrote, “Unless the helpless, hopeless person can be provided with more meaningful alternatives, his final choice may be death.”
Sadly, this is happening in America. Suicide statistics are frightening, with suicide a leading cause of death among teenagers. Underneath it all is a loss of hope.
We need hope. But where do we turn for hope? The world doesn’t offer much!
PROMISES OF HOPE
Human potential movement.
The term “human potential movement” describes the whole process of personal development through education, positive thinking and self-motivation. In other words, if you think positively and work hard, there is no limit to what you can accomplish. You can solve any problem, regardless of your predicament.
The human potential movement has accomplished a great deal. It does pay to think positively, practice self-discipline and have a vision. But after you have done all that, you can still be left with emptiness on the inside and no confidence that things are going to be OK.
Occult & new age philosophy.
Most of us are somewhat aware of the evil spirit world and the occult. It promises one thing but delivers something else. The occult promises hope but it brings despair; it promises freedom but delivers bondage.
Education.
Education helps, but it doesn’t change the heart. If you educate a thief, you end up with a more knowledgeable thief.
Politics.
Some say the way to hope is with bigger and better government social programs. They think the answer is found in the political process.
But what we’ve seen that none of these things offer real hope and we need is real hope!
HOPE IS POWERFUL
When we are trapped in a tunnel of misery, hope points to the light at the end of the tunnel. When we are overworked and exhausted, hope gives us fresh energy. When we’re discouraged, hope lifts our spirits. When we’re tempted to quit, hope keeps us going. When we lose our way and confusion blurs the destination, hope points the way. When we struggle with a lingering illness, hope helps us persevere beyond the pain.
When we fear the worst, hope says God is still in control. When we must endure the consequences of bad decisions, hope fuels our recovery. When we’re unemployed, hope tells us we still have a future. When we are forced to wait, hope gives us patience to trust. When we’re abandoned, hope reminds us we are not alone. When we say our final farewell to someone we love, hope in the life beyond gets us through the grief.
When life hurts and dreams fade, nothing helps like hope. Hope isn’t merely a nice option, it’s essential for survival.
HOPE IS…
Webster’s dictionary says “Hope is a feeling that what is wanted will happen. Hope is desire, accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment. Hope is not simply wanting something to happen, but expecting it to happen. Hope not only wishes for something, it expects it. That expectation may be based on your own ability or may be based on what God has promised to do for you.
Your hope does not have to be in your own cleverness. It can be rooted in the promises of God, promises like these:
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:20).
The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. (Deuteronomy 31:8).
And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19).
You can have hope, not based on your abilities, but on what God has promised to do for you.
Hope is the beginning of faith and faith is the beginning of hope. Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1).
Biblical faith is believing with certainty and conviction that what you hope for is going to take place. Hope triggers faith and faith increases hope.
Hope starts with a belief that better things are possible; spiritual hope grows with the conviction that God is going to make it happen.
THE SOURCE OF HOPE
Receive new life in Jesus Christ.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3).
When we are born again, we receive a living hope.
From physical birth, we receive physical life and the hope of all the things physical life can offer.
With spiritual birth, we receive a new quality of life that goes beyond the physical realm. It’s life for the soul. Jesus told Nicodemus, Unless you are born again… you cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:5).
To be born again means Jesus lives in you. To be born again means to receive Jesus as a personal friend into your life and this is not a process, it’s an event.
When we are born again, we receive new hope. The new birth brings a new beginning, providing meaning and direction for life and giving us hope.
Expose yourself to the Scriptures.
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4).
The Bible is a book of hope. It speaks directly about hope more than 150 times. The whole message of the Bible can be summed up with this one word. There is hope for a nation, for a family and for individuals trapped by life’s circumstances.
Nothing brings hope like reading the Bible. Jeremiah wrote, Blessed is the man whose hope is in the Lord. David said, Hope thou in God. Romans talks of rejoicing in hope. Titus speaks of the hope of eternal life. Hebrews talks about a better hope. Colossians speaks of a hope that is laid up in heaven.
Paul said that everything that was written in the Scriptures was written to give us encouragement and hope. That’s so true! Nothing restores hope like reading the Scriptures.
Reading the Bible teaches what God is like, shows you what God has done for others and tells you what God has promised to do for you.
When days are dark and there doesn’t seem to be any hope, go to the Book. Hope will return and solutions will come.
Let the Holy Spirit work in your life.
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).
Our God is the God of hope. It’s God’s nature to bring hope; wherever God’s presence is manifested, there is hope.
God wants us to overflow with hope. He wants us to have more than a faint glimmer or a tentative ray of hope, he wants us to overflow with hope.
How can people overflow with hope? When the Holy Spirit is active in your life, you` will overflow with hope. Paul said, you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
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