Hope Held Unswervingly

23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.Hebrews 10:23 

How hopeful are you in your daily life?

I have little to no hope dailySometimes I can see a hopeful momentMost of the time, I am a hopeful personUsually, I run to a hopeful thought our perspective!

That's Me!

It seems that most of us are really familiar with this idea of “Hope”. We interact with it in small quantities as we hit a local coffee shop or juice bar, we get the thrill of it’s effects when we sit in a movie theater anticipating the flick to live up to the hype or reviews. Hope is one of those factors in life that seems to be the catalyst to keep enduring life, or resist falling into the deep. Why is it such a powerful force in our lives?

Hope implies that there is the possibility of a better future, according to the famed hope researcher C.R. Snyder. It shows up at the worst possible time when things are dire and difficult, but can keep us going during those hard moments. If during the difficulty, we can see the faint glimmer of something better, then hope “opens us up,” says Barbara Fredrickson, a positive psychology researcher. And turn us toward something better. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/imperfect-spirituality/201902/why-hope-matters

Although it seems to be part of the human condition to look to hope, we can be sure to have a great amount of experiences when we placed our hope into someone or something’s possession that ultimately disappointed or failed us. Many people develop calloused hearts from the countless moments a good thing is just a good empty promise and the result is a waste of time, energy, money, and our heart space. Even though we can be prone to believe once more in a new glint of hope, we need to be well suited to discern exactly where we are putting this hope.

Do we yet have some sense of self worth to not throw all of ourselves into the arms of those who can’t bear to hold the weight of our expectations? That is why we, who place our faith in God, are able to actually grow in confidence and give up the pursuit of finding that which we hope can bear our needs and source of help. Although people are willing to be there to support, or the promise in some venture, life is never predictable and there is a limit to the finite ability of all things under the sun. Yet, if we practice what the writer of Hebrews claims we will have a firm hope.

We are called to be convinced by the presence of God, the work of the Holy Spirit, and the gentle work of our Savior, to profess to the very power and presence of God in our circumstances. A person of virtue is able to see all situations through a lens that regardless of the diagnosis, the level of income, and the loss, God is faithful to be present in every breath we draw. If we could simply find a way to gather a firm footing of this hope we would be more expressive about this promise.

I would suggest we try this adopting this lens of seeing every what if and what happened as a place where God was there and by his mercy and grace, his hand was upon you in those times. Even though there are tragedies where death and disease take place in this fallen world, we can still find ourselves not perishing under the pressure. Isn’t that fantastic news!?

The greatest challenge comes in how we are able to maintain a grip onto the hope that is promised by the faithfulness of God. I would say that it is by having these three areas working for me in my life;

a) An active prayer life.

b)An effort to adopt scripture (not just read and put down, but live it out).

c) Bringing others who can hold up my hands when they get tired like Moses had as he gave hope to the people crossing the Red Sea.

If we are active, adopting, and attended to by other people who have our backs we can seek to profess with hope that God is working and is in the middle of the daily mess as well as the life long trajectory of our existence. The real question is, will you recognize the significance of this hope to find it worthy of professing it all over your life and to others as the reason you are thriving? As the reason you are not perishing? The kind of hope that transforms you as you watch God work for your good and His Glory! I pray you hold on and profess all the goodness of our God regardless of the outlook. God will never let you down!

May God get the glory from your story!