There are four hopes, but only two types of hope. How does this work?
The first type is the hope of the world, a hope that is uncertain and limited to what the world has to offer you in the midst of your suffering: nothing.
The world attempts to tell us how the future will be based on the story it tells of the past. It claims that through progress, we can somehow reach utopia here on earth. That our hope is only in the continued progress until “things get better.”
But this is a false hope.
The world cannot predict the future based off of the past, saying everything will be similar to tomorrow as it was yesterday and today.
In fact, the scoffers say: “Where is the promise of [Jesus Christ’s] coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:4 ESV)
Which brings us to the second type of hope: the Christian’s hope. This hope is sure and confident in the future through the promises of Jesus. And Christians actually live with three hopes simultaneously.
(1) Christians have the sure and confident hope that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer. That through His death on the cross and resurrection from the grave, He forgave us for all our sins and gives us eternal life.
(2) Christians have the sure and confident hope that Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord of Lords. That He will be returning soon to judge all the earth, ending our world as we know it and establishing the New Heaven and the New Earth, where all those who believe in Him and repent will dwell with Him forever.
(3) And Christians have a lesser hope, which is sandwiched between the first two greater hopes: a hope for a tomorrow. This is a hope that we will wake up tomorrow morning, ready for another chance to love and serve our neighbors, blessing those around us as we live in Jesus’ love for us.
Although this hope is less than Christ’s love for us on the cross (#1) and less than Christ’s love for us in the resurrection at the end (#2), this lesser hope should NOT be despised. For this hope is what motivates us in our love towards God and one another, as well as what energizes us in our vocations.
This lesser hope is that we might be able to do something better tomorrow than we failed at today or yesterday … all while we wait with the joyous anticipation for Jesus Christ’s imminent return.
Jesus is our sure and confident hope … our anchor in the midst of a tumultuous sea.
“We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf.” (Hebrews 6:19-20a ESV)
Soli Deo Gloria!
(Published on the Devotional Page of the Alpine Avalanche Newspaper on Thurs, January 23, 2025)
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