Hope

     For three and a half years I worked on a suicide intervention phone line.  Six nights a week people would call me drowning in hopelessness, sometimes literally with a gun to his head or a bottle of pills in her hand.  My job was to share hope, to help people find enough hope to keep moving forward.  Hope is simply confident expectation, and it is essential.  As a Christian I believe that Jesus is our ultimate hope!  I want to use the word H.O.P.E. as an acrostic to remind us of some of what Jesus offers us:
     H is for Help for The Here and Now.   Jesus is not simply our doorway to heaven. He is our greatest companion here on Earth.  He sends the Spirit of Christ or the Holy Spirit to indwell us, to walk with us.  He offers guidance as we pray.  He gives comfort when we are hurting.  He convicts us when we sin.  He offers us wisdom for life through His Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16-17).      
     O is for Others in The Body of Christ.  Life is best done in community.  Jesus created the church or the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27).  When Jesus would send his followers out on mission, he would send them in pairs, never alone. Going through life alone is heartbreaking.  I have personally found great encouragement in doing life with other Christians.  I have mentors that I can openly share about my struggles.  They are men of spiritual maturity that offer me their hard-earned wisdom when I feel stuck.  Often you experience the generosity of Christians when you are in the church.  I have seen couples offer free babysitting to single moms.  I have seen people bring meals when someone is struggling with their health.  There are many “good Samaritans” in churches who come alongside people who are hurting.  A component of my hope is that I am not alone, in part because of my relationships in the body of Christ.
     P is for Promises.  We can hope because we follow a promise-keeping God.  Jesus Himself is the focal point of many of God’s promises (2 Corinthians 1:20).  All the way back in Genesis after Adam and Eve sinned, the Scripture includes God’s first promise about the coming Messiah (Genesis 3:15). In that promise we are told the Messiah will crush the head of Satan.  Throughout Scripture we are promised forgiveness for our sins.  We are promised that Jesus will never leave us.  We are promised that Jesus will return physically and triumphantly.  We are promised that Jesus is preparing a place for us.  Our hope is built on promises kept in the past and the anticipated answers in the future.                
     E is for Eternity.   Heaven or Hell are the destinies that await every human.  Despite the false claims of our pluralistic age, eternal joy as a destiny is only available through a relationship with Jesus Christ (John 14:6).  God wants heaven to be crowded!   Grab ahold of the invitation of Jesus so that your ultimate destiny is eternal life. The heart of this invitation is summed up in John 3:16 which says, “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but receive eternal life.”   
     Through Jesus Christ we can have hope in the here and now and the hereafter.  We can have confident expectation every day and look forward to eternity.  In a word, Jesus is our HOPE!
Derek Dickinson