WHY YOU NEED HOPE – MORE THAN YOU REALIZE
By R. Herbert
Hope is neither faith’s distant cousin nor love’s poor relation. Here’s what hope is and why you need it…
The words of the apostle Paul in the thirteenth chapter of 1st Corinthians are familiar to all of us: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love…” (1 Corinthians 13:13). Paul goes on, of course, to stress that love is the greatest of this triad of spiritual qualities. Faith, too, is praised in the scriptures as of tremendous spiritual importance: “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). So where does this leave hope, the third member of Paul’s trio of most important qualities? In the minds of most of us, hope comes in as a kind of distant third place winner. It is like a spiritual bronze medalist that does well, but is always eclipsed by the silver and gold placement of faith and love. But we should be careful not to think of hope this way.
When we put all of Paul’s words together, we find a very different picture and we realize that hope is of immense importance. It is true that faith and love are often juxtaposed in the scriptures, but we find hope filling an equally important role. Notice for example, Paul’s words in 1 Thessalonians 5:8: “… let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” In terms of the body armor used in this analogy, the breastplate is certainly vital. But so is the helmet. Put in modern terms, would you rather ride a motorcycle protected by a breastplate or a helmet? How about working on a construction site? Clearly, the helmet – hope – is of great importance in certain situations.
Opening our eyes to hope
Moving beyond analogy, we can also find in the words of Paul a vital function of hope that many Christians miss seeing. Notice first what Paul wrote to the believers in Ephesus:
“For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers … I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people” (Ephesians 1:15-18).
Do you see how, although the Ephesians clearly were exhibiting faith and love, Paul prayed for these people that their spiritual eyes would be opened to know hope more fully? This certainly does not sound as though faith and love are paramount and hope of much less consequence. Paul clearly prayed that the Ephesians would have hope to the same degree that they had developed love and faith. Why is that? For the answer we must turn to another of Paul’s writings – his Epistle to the Colossians – and what he says there on the subject of hope may surprise you:
“… because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people – the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel” (Colossians 1:4-5).
Here we see the same triad of Faith, Love and Hope, but hope is put in a clear spiritual perspective. Paul says that faith and love spring from hope! Now clearly, faith and love do not only arise from hope, otherwise the Ephesians would not have had both those qualities, but not the hope Paul prayed they would also develop. So what Paul can only mean in his words to the Colossians is that our faith and love can be increased by our hope. If we ponder this, we can see how it is true.
Powering perseverance
This is something we may never have thought about, but the Bible is clear that the action of one spiritual quality can develop another. For example, James tells us: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance …” (James 1:2-4).
Paul himself stresses this interaction of spiritual qualities – using once again his great triad: “We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:3).
Here, endurance is clearly the “fruit” or result of hope – which shows that the hope Paul and other biblical writers discuss is nothing like the kind of anemic “hope” in expressions such as “I hope it doesn’t rain today.” That kind of human hope is little more than “I would like it if …” or “it would make me happy if ...” The biblical concept of hope is a powerful motivating force. It carries us through trials and gives us long-term perseverance. As someone once said, with hope we are never stranded in the present. Hope is the light at the end of life’s tunnel – the thing we must continually keep our eyes on. Hope helps us carry on, and we might say that real hope becomes the backbone of our spiritual lives.
So, far from being an “also ran” in the Olympics of spiritual qualities, and the distant lesser cousin of Paul’s great triad, we find that hope, according to Paul himself, inspires our endurance and can also be responsible for ”growing “ our faith and love. Paul understood that the hope we nurture provides added energy to “fuel” both our love and faith, and as such hope is of immense value. It is a vital part of our spiritual toolbox, and one which we need for its own sake as well as for its development of other key qualities.
Developing true hope
How do we develop this hope? The Bible gives specific pointers. It is one of the fruits of the Spirit for which we can pray: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13 and Galatians 5:5). But this hope is also something that we can grow and develop. We do this in two ways: looking back and looking forward. First, we need to be aware of and remember whenever God works things out in our own lives, and in the lives of others we know. We need to remember how things worked out for people in the pages of God’s word: “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope” (Romans 15:4). Second, we need to look forward and continue to refresh our minds with hope in frequent study of what the scriptures say regarding the goal for which we all aim – the hope of eternal life in the family of God (1 Thessalonians 4:13, Ephesians 1:18, Colossians 1:5).
Once we receive and develop hope, it becomes a spiritual asset of inestimable value. Hebrews 6: 19 tells us: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure …” In fact, the apostle Paul ties hope directly to salvation itself:
“Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently” (Romans 8:23-25, emphasis added).
So we need hope in a great many ways, not least to help us develop the most important attributes of our spiritual lives and to enable God to fulfill His plan of salvation in us. That’s the importance of hope. You may “lose” a number of things in life – ranging from your job to your car keys – but most of these losses are things from which you can pick up and move on. That is yet another area where hope comes in. Surviving downfalls and losses is one of the reasons we need hope as much as we do. Hope can help us with every loss, every setback, and it can help propel us forward. It’s one of the few things we cannot be without. So develop it, use it, guard it with your life, and don’t ever lose hope.
By R. Herbert
Hope is neither faith’s distant cousin nor love’s poor relation. Here’s what hope is and why you need it…
The words of the apostle Paul in the thirteenth chapter of 1st Corinthians are familiar to all of us: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love…” (1 Corinthians 13:13). Paul goes on, of course, to stress that love is the greatest of this triad of spiritual qualities. Faith, too, is praised in the scriptures as of tremendous spiritual importance: “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). So where does this leave hope, the third member of Paul’s trio of most important qualities? In the minds of most of us, hope comes in as a kind of distant third place winner. It is like a spiritual bronze medalist that does well, but is always eclipsed by the silver and gold placement of faith and love. But we should be careful not to think of hope this way.
When we put all of Paul’s words together, we find a very different picture and we realize that hope is of immense importance. It is true that faith and love are often juxtaposed in the scriptures, but we find hope filling an equally important role. Notice for example, Paul’s words in 1 Thessalonians 5:8: “… let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” In terms of the body armor used in this analogy, the breastplate is certainly vital. But so is the helmet. Put in modern terms, would you rather ride a motorcycle protected by a breastplate or a helmet? How about working on a construction site? Clearly, the helmet – hope – is of great importance in certain situations.
Opening our eyes to hope
Moving beyond analogy, we can also find in the words of Paul a vital function of hope that many Christians miss seeing. Notice first what Paul wrote to the believers in Ephesus:
“For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers … I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people” (Ephesians 1:15-18).
Do you see how, although the Ephesians clearly were exhibiting faith and love, Paul prayed for these people that their spiritual eyes would be opened to know hope more fully? This certainly does not sound as though faith and love are paramount and hope of much less consequence. Paul clearly prayed that the Ephesians would have hope to the same degree that they had developed love and faith. Why is that? For the answer we must turn to another of Paul’s writings – his Epistle to the Colossians – and what he says there on the subject of hope may surprise you:
“… because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people – the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel” (Colossians 1:4-5).
Here we see the same triad of Faith, Love and Hope, but hope is put in a clear spiritual perspective. Paul says that faith and love spring from hope! Now clearly, faith and love do not only arise from hope, otherwise the Ephesians would not have had both those qualities, but not the hope Paul prayed they would also develop. So what Paul can only mean in his words to the Colossians is that our faith and love can be increased by our hope. If we ponder this, we can see how it is true.
Powering perseverance
This is something we may never have thought about, but the Bible is clear that the action of one spiritual quality can develop another. For example, James tells us: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance …” (James 1:2-4).
Paul himself stresses this interaction of spiritual qualities – using once again his great triad: “We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 1:3).
Here, endurance is clearly the “fruit” or result of hope – which shows that the hope Paul and other biblical writers discuss is nothing like the kind of anemic “hope” in expressions such as “I hope it doesn’t rain today.” That kind of human hope is little more than “I would like it if …” or “it would make me happy if ...” The biblical concept of hope is a powerful motivating force. It carries us through trials and gives us long-term perseverance. As someone once said, with hope we are never stranded in the present. Hope is the light at the end of life’s tunnel – the thing we must continually keep our eyes on. Hope helps us carry on, and we might say that real hope becomes the backbone of our spiritual lives.
So, far from being an “also ran” in the Olympics of spiritual qualities, and the distant lesser cousin of Paul’s great triad, we find that hope, according to Paul himself, inspires our endurance and can also be responsible for ”growing “ our faith and love. Paul understood that the hope we nurture provides added energy to “fuel” both our love and faith, and as such hope is of immense value. It is a vital part of our spiritual toolbox, and one which we need for its own sake as well as for its development of other key qualities.
Developing true hope
How do we develop this hope? The Bible gives specific pointers. It is one of the fruits of the Spirit for which we can pray: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13 and Galatians 5:5). But this hope is also something that we can grow and develop. We do this in two ways: looking back and looking forward. First, we need to be aware of and remember whenever God works things out in our own lives, and in the lives of others we know. We need to remember how things worked out for people in the pages of God’s word: “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope” (Romans 15:4). Second, we need to look forward and continue to refresh our minds with hope in frequent study of what the scriptures say regarding the goal for which we all aim – the hope of eternal life in the family of God (1 Thessalonians 4:13, Ephesians 1:18, Colossians 1:5).
Once we receive and develop hope, it becomes a spiritual asset of inestimable value. Hebrews 6: 19 tells us: “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure …” In fact, the apostle Paul ties hope directly to salvation itself:
“Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently” (Romans 8:23-25, emphasis added).
So we need hope in a great many ways, not least to help us develop the most important attributes of our spiritual lives and to enable God to fulfill His plan of salvation in us. That’s the importance of hope. You may “lose” a number of things in life – ranging from your job to your car keys – but most of these losses are things from which you can pick up and move on. That is yet another area where hope comes in. Surviving downfalls and losses is one of the reasons we need hope as much as we do. Hope can help us with every loss, every setback, and it can help propel us forward. It’s one of the few things we cannot be without. So develop it, use it, guard it with your life, and don’t ever lose hope.
