Now HopeSýnishorn

Hope … more than just the filling in a love/faith sandwich

1 Corinthians 13:12-13 (NLT) Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love … [emphasis added]

We may think we’re in the picture of what’s going on around us, but the reality is that, in this life, we fail to see the full equation. While God knows every hair on our heads and every sparrow that falls, we only see life as if through the limited perspective of a mirror.

You may be picturing the mirror you look in every day, but that’s not the kind of mirror the apostle Paul was talking about. In Bible times, mirrors were not made of glass. Rather, reflections were seen on dim, blurry, and often distorted metal surfaces – it would have been like looking at yourself in a saucepan. 

You see, life can take many unexpected turns. When we don’t understand why certain things happen, we can be tempted to back-peddle on hope and give up. But it may be that we are simply missing the bigger picture. And that’s when we really need hope in our lives – when we can’t see all the details with our natural eyes. 

Together, faith, hope and love are the key ingredients for us to see a harvest. Combined, the three of them keep us on course – focused and traveling towards that day where we will see everything fully. But while we’ve all heard of the power of love, and that faith makes all things possible, many of us have a limited or distorted understanding of hope. 

As we commonly use it, hope is a vague concept – a word used to express a wish that may or may not be fulfilled. It’s almost like you could blow it out with a single breath. Yet without true hope, life loses its meaning. You’re like a boat all at sea, with no horizon by which to steer your course.

Compare that to the Bible’s depiction of hope – there is nothing flimsy there. The apostle Paul says hope will last forever. Elsewhere, hope is described as both a helmet and an anchor. And, just like anchors stabilize a boat and helmets protect your brain, hope helps you withstand things that would otherwise take you out.

Victor Shepherd, a professor of systematic and historical theology, highlights hope’s crucial linking role between faith and love. He writes, ‘Hope keeps faith from collapsing under the burden of disappointment and delay ... Hope fortifies love and lends it resilience. Hope stiffens faith and forestalls collapse.’

In other words, hope sustains us. It keeps us going when we feel like we’re on our last legs. Why? Because biblical hope is not the half-hearted, vaguely-fatalistic type of hope we often see around us. Rather, it is based on the righteousness and trustworthiness of God – take confidence in that! 

Hope lasts forever. Trust Him now for the things you cannot see, knowing one day the imperfect will be perfected. Declare today, ‘I can hope because God is God, and God has always been God, and therefore I’m going to activate that hope.’