HOPE

1 Corinthians 13:13
“And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

I love watching survival shows, where the host, like Bear Grylls, goes into the wild with only the essentials needed for survival. They usually carry a small pack that contains handy things like a canteen, a trusty knife, a rope and other items that will assure their survival success. Although their situations look bleak (and I’m sure it’s filmed to look much bleaker than it actually is in real life), they always have what they need to pull through, so they never lose hope.

     For the believer, our hope in Christ is actually an essential for our survival. Think about it. When we don’t have hope in Christ, we worry about numerous things, we complain at any chance we get, we get paralyzed with fear, or we allow our emotions to dictate our behaviors. However, all those ailments have their remedy, and that remedy is hope. When we hope in Christ, we have a sure bet that His will for our lives is best, that our security in our eternal destination is unwavering. Without hope, we crumble and fall, but with hope, we stand tall.

     A key point in our hope as believers is to understand that hope must be properly placed. We can easily slip into the belief that our hope in a godly individual or a ministry or movement is the same as hope in God, but that is absolutely not true. A person, Church or a ministry movement WILL let you down, but Jesus never will. The only place for our hope to find security is with Jesus, and once it’s locked in on Him, the results are wondrous. One can go from a ‘worry-wart’ or ‘basket case’ to a solid servant or wonder-filled worshipper. It all hinges on where our hope is found. If it is in a system or person, you will worry or fear, but if it is found in Christ alone, you will respond to fear with faith and worry with worship. Place your hope in Christ and, I promise, you will experience victory!