the nature and importance of HOPE.

 

Max, Marc, Morgan, Miller, Mac.

I would like to tech you about hope. I have struggled so much over this topic, to find the right words. In my mind, hope is so simple, but when I put it to words, I am simplicity is nowhere to be found. No other subject has done this to me before. Let’s see how I do.

 

1. Hope is a positive expectation for the future. Tomorrow, I hope to enjoy some ice cream.

2. Hope is supremely powerful because it is connected directly to joy and all forms of action (thinking, speaking, doing.). It’s impossible to have joy without hope; also, it is impossible to act without hope. Every act is done in anticipation of a positive effect. Every joy comes from the waiting for or experience of the object of our hope.

3. The object of our hope is never possessed. When it is possessed, it becomes certain knowledge (which is certain, where as hope is not certain because the object is not yet possessed). This ice cream is good.

4. Everyone hopes, everyone is always hoping, everyone has many hopes, and these hopes often conflict and contradict one another. Understanding yourself, and others, will be achieved when you discern the hope. Most people are unhappy and hurting. This is because they hope in the wrong things. When you tell a person about their false hope, rarely will you change them, they must experience the emptiness. This is why I think it best to, most of the time, to give a selfish person exactly what they want.

5. Although hope is always present and working, man do not think much about their hopes. It is an evil thing to understand a person’s hopes and then treat them harshly. A person’s hope is the thing they treasure most, and the knowing of a hope, combined with the knowing of how to destroy that hope is a despicable act. I have done this too often to others and it makes me sad.

6. Hopes can be strong or weak; they can be in worthy or unworthy objects. Weak hopes impact us little, and don’t last long under pressure or frustration. Strong hopes impact us much, and stand against the storms of frustration and disappointment. Worthy hopes grant us the joy we seek. Unworthy hopes deceive for a time, and then they destroy us. Hoping in the praise of others will lead to a joyless life.

7. Fear is really a kind of hope. Fear is the hope of the avoidance of pain and hurt. It is a horrible hope to have long term, because we were made to run towards good. Avoiding bad is not the same thing as running toward good.

 

There has to be a better way to communicate what I’ve just written, but I cannot find it. I suspect you ought to read the previous points a few times to untangle my chaotic thoughts. However, I am crystal clear on what is next: our hope in Christ.

I am convinced there are too many hopes in Christ to count, you will spend your lifetime discovering new hopes, they are in scripture, on every page, and easy to learn.

Our most important hope is the hope of eternal life with Jesus in heaven. This hope is unshakable and will give us the strength to endure absolutely anything this world or it’s master, can throw at us. (I am referring to our responsibility as we persevere, I am not discounting the sustaining power of the Holy Spirit). This hope is the ultimate anchor for the soul.

When you woke up this morning, why did you get out of bed, what were you hoping would happen? When you last lost your temper, think back to the moments before, what were you hoping in? Consider how much joy and peace you have right now, what is the source, in what are you hoping? Consider deeply your sorrows and your surprises? What was the root? In what were you hoping?