Hope Is a Person Намуна

Hope is the backbone of our faith 

Hebrews 11:1 NLT tells us, “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” 

This is a true statement for anything we place our hope in. We develop faith in a chair when it continually holds us up, in our car when it faithfully starts, and in groceries being on the store shelves. We have confidence that these things will continue based on our experience. But when that chair breaks, the car doesn’t start, or there are no groceries on the shelves, our hope and expectation disappears along with our faith and security in those things. 

Our faith in God is also dependent on our hope. Our faith can be stable and secure because His character remains solid, firm, and unchanging. He is the same yesterday, today, and will still be the same tomorrow. He proves His faithfulness when the sun displays its glory every morning, when spring always follows dark winter, and the rains come to replenish the earth. As we place our hope in Him, our faith will also remain, secure in His unchanging truth and promises. Hope in Him is the backbone—the support—of our faith. 

This is very important, because our belief system also regulates our emotions. If we want to be emotionally stable and secure, our belief has to be in something—Someone—who is also stable and secure. We can find our security and sufficiency in the God of unlimited Hope, or we can search for it within ourselves. Our self-sufficiency—our effort in trying to cope with life on our own—gives us the illusion of control, but it is false and we will eventually fail. If our hope has died, perhaps it is because we have placed it in the wrong things or the wrong people.

Romans 5:5 NIV tells us that “...hope does not put us to shame…” and NLT says “...this hope will not lead to disappointment…”. Elpis, the Greek word for hope in this verse means a confident expectation in something good. Paul was appealing to the Romans, and to us, to place our confidence, our trust, our hope in the unchanging character and nature of God, the Person of Hope, rather than in self or in certain outcomes. 

Only hope in God, the beginning place in the activation of our faith, will keep us moving forward when life falls apart. Only He is faithful and trustworthy. Hope in Him will never disappoint.

Will you choose to place your hope in the unchanging character of God or will you falter in your faith, putting hope in your own expectations?