Hopefully Or Hope

Dear Friend, How are you today? I hope you are well.

My purpose in writing you is to share some thoughts on hope. Consider this the first in a series of letters.

I’m sure you may have said something like this – I hope it rains. I hope Mary gets better. I hope so. I really hope that (your favorite sports team) wins. I hope the car doesn’t run out of gas before we get home. I’ve said all these at one time or another, perhaps you have too.

All the above “I hope” statements are common but place hope in the realm of optimistic wishful thinking. There’s no reason, foundation, or promise anchoring these hopes, just a desire that things go the way we want. This kind of wishful thinking hope is like a candle flickering in the wind.

Recently, I did a study on the Bible’s use of the word hope and found that hope is much more like the beacon of a lighthouse than that of a flickering candle.

The writer of Hebrews calls hope an anchor for the soul. The Apostle Paul prayed for his readers to experience the hope of their calling.

Paul also wrote of the supporting intersection of faith, hope, and love. In Romans,

Paul expressed the forward-looking nature of hope.

Peter called our walk with Jesus a living hope. Peter and John both recognized how hope changes our desires.

None of these are wishful thinking; all are steeped in the stick-with-it attitude of our step by step, day by day walk with Jesus.

It’s that kind of hope that will get you and me through our darkest days. To bring us hope even when we feel that all hope is lost.

My aim for this study is to hang our hope on something more substantive than our wishes and desires.

That we’ll both gain a deeper understanding of the hope found in God, in the finished work of Jesus, and in His promises.

So, whether you’re filled with hope, down to your last hope, or have truly lost all hope, my desire is for you to discover with me a solid and sure hope by exploring what the Bible says about it.

My desire dear friend is for our conversation be a two-way street. So, with that in mind, permit me to ask a few questions. You are welcome to share them with me or to simply use them to ponder what has been written above.

How would you define “hope”? Would you consider yourself to be an optimistic, hopeful person, a pessimistic, hopeless person or somewhere in between like the pragmatic “it will all work out somehow” kind of person?

What are your desires for this Bible Study?

Shalom

@TheWatcher