HOPE
“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
I Peter 3:15
There is a list of essential needs for our survival. I wrote down a few:
1. Air – we can survive just a few minutes without it…
2. Water – a few days…
3. Food – a few weeks…
4. Health – all our body functioning adequately
5. Beating heart
6. Cerebral activity
Perfect! For now, we have everything we need!
But there is another list of essential needs — what I would call our “soul survival.” I say this because there are countless people who are alive, but whose souls look “dead.” People are being deeply affected by depression, loneliness, abandonment, hurts, bitterness, resentment, and so many other things. I wrote down a list of the needs for our soul:
1. Love
2. Rest
3. Moments of happiness and fun
4. Faith and
5. Hope
Faith and hope walk together, but they aren’t the same.
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1
They look the same, but they aren’t.
We can only have hope if we have faith. But in my journey as a pastor, I have seen a lot of people with faith without hope. Because when we have faith, we believe, but many people continue to look only here and not beyond.
I mean, when we really have HOPE, we don’t see here, we see there.
Hope: “Something good that you want to happen in the future, or a confident feeling about what will happen in the future.” Cambridge English Dictionary.
Hope is an optimistic expression of faith. That is why hope can be described through the lens of faith.
Even if the circumstances in my life are terrible and chaotic, there is an invisible thread that arises in my mind and helps me to look beyond. This is hope!
It’s like I know the end of the story, and I know that despite all the suffering, the ending is happy. I heard about someone who, whenever she started reading a book, if the story made her anxious, she would go straight to the end and read the final part to make sure it would have a happy ending. Then, she would go back to the point where she stopped and continue reading peacefully because now she knew the end.
We know the end, right?
It depends on which ending we are talking about… because the end of this life doesn’t bring us hope. On the contrary, it makes us sad. Life is a journey in which, as we reach the final part, we may lose our health, lose loved ones, lose our independence, and finally, lose our lives.
But Jesus came to show us that He can overcome death. And through Him, we will overcome it as well.
So our HOPE IS THIS!!!
I really believe that one day we are going to live in a world without pain, crying, death, suffering, illness, disabilities…
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18
But I’d like to highlight some points in today’s passage:
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
1. “To give an answer” – when we give an answer, it’s a passive attitude related to the person who asked the question: They ask and I answer. I don’t need to talk, to talk, to talk… I like the concept from Michael Frost’s book: “We need to have questionable lives.”
Why is she always smiling? How can he worship God even with a lot of problems? Where do they find the strength to face them?
2. “the reason for the hope you have” – how could people see the reason for the hope that we have? It’s not something that we write about ourselves. It’s not something we need to talk about… the way we live, the way we react to the challenges in our lives, and the love we share will show them that we have hope.
3. “do this with gentleness and respect” – many, many Christians have failed at doing it. They are so convinced that Jesus is good that they try to force people to believe in Him with words, and they don’t notice that Jesus NEVER did it that way. He always answered people about His hope gently and respectfully.
4. Always be prepared – Are you? What is the reason for your hope? Can you ask me, please?
Dani, what is the reason for your hope?
My hope is in the resurrected Jesus and the promise that He will prepare a place for us, and one day He will take us to live with Him in a perfect and wonderful world without pain or death. So, I can face what I need to face here because I know this is not the end.
Don’t give up! Pain is always fleeting…
By Dani Caldeira