Loss is probably one of the worst parts of our human experience in this fallen world.
Loss of a loved one.
Loss of a relationship.
Loss of a pregnancy.
Loss of a job.
Loss of belonging.
Loss of time.
Loss of…fill in the blank.
Perhaps one of the most tragic of all is the loss of hope.
Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” Without hope, any of the aforementioned losses would be crushing. With hope, more specifically hope in the Lord Jesus, we can endure beyond our perceived limits.
Recently, I witnessed one of my dearest sisters in Christ lose her beloved fiancé to sudden cardiac arrest a month before their wedding. At the same time, I was also navigating my own loss in the miscarriage of our first baby after the tiny heart stopped beating. It quite often feels like we’re limping through this life. We are so eagerly awaiting our Lord to destroy and put an end to our enemy—that is, death (1 Cor. 15:26).
As Christians, we thankfully have hope in the Hope. But how can we obtain, increase, and remain anchored to hope while walking (or limping) through this life? While searching Scripture for verses on hope, I came across several ways we as Christ-followers can live in hope that God has revealed in His word. I would love to share four ways in particular with you:
- Through the gift of the holy spirit:
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you continue to believe, so that you abound in hope by the power of holy spirit” (Rom. 15:3).
We are children of the ‘God of hope’. When you confess Jesus Christ as Lord and believe God raised him from the dead, you are saved (Rom. 10:9), and you receive in you the gift of the holy spirit, God’s very nature. Both God and Jesus work through the Spirit to communicate with and help each believer. This makes our hope a reality—it becomes a living hope. When we are witnesses to the power and manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s work within us—for example, being transformed more into the likeness of Christ (2 Cor. 3:18), speaking in tongues, revelation, etc.—then God and His promises in Christ (which is the basis of our hope) become more concrete to us. Our faith is strengthened, and as a result, our hope abounds.
- Through Scripture:
“For whatever was written previously was written to teach us, that through perseverance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we would have hope” (Rom. 15:4).
Everything we can know about Yahweh and His Son Jesus—character, promises, instructions, plans—is in His Word. We gain a better grasp of our future hope by studying the pages of this precious love letter from the Creator of all. Psalm 119 is a wonderful poem in the Bible that reflects how we should respond to God’s word so that it may teach and transform us. Scripture is indeed a comfort through all sorts of trials and heartache. Even in trials where a normal response would be to abandon hope, we can firmly remain in hope with the encouraging words of the Living God at hand.
“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became a joy to me and the rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Yahweh, God of Armies” (Jer. 15:16).
- Character development during hardship:
“And not only that, but we also boast in our hardships, knowing that hardship produces endurance; and endurance, character; and character, hope; and hope does not disappoint us, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy spirit that was given to us” (Rom. 5:3-5).
Amidst trials, it can feel like an agonising wait to see many of God’s prophetic promises for the future fulfilled. But rest assured, they will come to pass. Endurance produced by life’s hardships can shape our character into the likeness of Christ—depending on our willingness to be moulded—when we allow God to work in us even in our lowest moments. Hope is a product of such character.
- Understanding what our future hope actually is:
“…it is impossible for God to lie, we have strong encouragement, we who have found refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul both sure and steadfast, and extending into the inner part, behind the curtain, where, as a forerunner, Jesus entered on our behalf having become a high priest forever…” (Heb. 6:18-19).
Our endurance is based on our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 1:3). We must first know what kind of hope is set before us in order to take refuge in it. We cannot find refuge or encouragement in something we don’t understand.
Ephesians 1:18-23 talks about how “the eyes of our hearts have been enlightened—so that we will know what the hope is to which he has called us…”. Romans 8:17 and Galatians 4:7 state that all who believe in Jesus become children and heirs of God, and co-heirs with Christ. Because of what Christ accomplished on our behalf, we await our true citizenship and the transformation of our lowly bodies so they will have the same form as his glorious, resurrected body (Phil. 3:20-21; 1 Cor. 15:48).
When Christ returns, believers who have died (and those still living) will be raised to life and have their corruptible bodies transformed into incorruptible bodies; we will be made whole (1 Thess. 4:16-17). All will be restored, there will be a new heaven and a new earth where God will live with His people, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more, nor will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain (Rev. 21:4). Matthew 6:20 and Colossians 1:5 touch upon the added hope of rewards on top of what’s already been mentioned of our salvation. Those who walk in obedience, putting off the flesh and doing good in the body, will be rewarded by Christ on the Day of Judgment (2 Cor. 5:10). God has guaranteed a future for His people beyond what we can even imagine. We do not know when this will be, but we know it is sure. “For in just a little while, (How little! How little!), the Coming One will come, and will not delay” (Heb. 10:37).
What I’ve written has barely scratched the surface on what our future in Christ contains. Nevertheless, the Bible is graciously filled with verses to bolster our hope, which is essential to our Christian walk. Our hope in Christ will never disappoint us. Some people may try to shame us for our hope in Jesus, but this hope will never put us to shame because it is not built on the temporal—it is rooted in the promises of the eternal God, Yahweh. Our hope may at times feel thin or weak, but by the work of God through the Holy Spirit, encouraging ourselves with Scripture, being made into the likeness of Christ Jesus, and truly grasping what and Who our hope is in, these will carry us through our darkest days here on earth.
Just hold on a little while longer. Our Hope is coming.
“Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken” (Ps. 62:5-6).
