“Everything that is done in the world is done by hope”.

– Martin Luther

We don’t think about hope until we lose it. It’s when you look at your life and say; this is not the life I hoped for. Maybe it’s when you look at the world and you say, “this is not the world that I hoped for.” That’s when you realize the importance of hope. That’s when you realize that everything we wish to do, accomplish or become in life cannot be done without hope. But the fact is that many of the things that we hoped for simply did not happen. It’s the relationship that did not turn out to be what you hoped for, it’s the career or business that didn’t turn out the way you hoped it would. On a larger scale you may have moved from one geographical location to another or from one governmental system to another only to be disappointed. Maybe you deposited your hopes on a religious institution and that didn’t turn out to be what you hoped for. Maybe the most hopeless feeling of all is when you look at yourself in the mirror and realize that you are not the person you could and should be. Let me throw one more into this long list of disappointments, you have everything going in the right direction and then your body gives in to an illness or aging. It almost seems as though there is no hope. It seems like we’re living in a hopeless world.

Romans 8: 20-25 NLT

20Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. 24We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. 25But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

We have a big problem; we’re actually living in a hopeless world. As if that were not enough we have another problem in that we think we can overcome this hopeless world. We work really hard doing exercises, eating healthy, taking vitamins only to look in the mirror and see that we are aging. We work really hard in the hope that through education, hard work, health plans and financial plans we can build a solid foundation. By the way, I’m not against any of these things they’re actually wise things to do. But the Apostle Paul comes along and tells us that eventually everything falls apart because all of creation has been subject to God’s curse, and that even the earth itself is awaiting to be set free. The bad news is it doesn’t matter how hard you try eventually you will be disappointed because God Himself has cursed all of creation.

The good news is that in a hopeless world we can find hope but not in the visible things like exercise, health and financial planning not even in our families and loved ones, but rather in waiting for the complete manifestation of the saving work that God has begun in the lives of all of those who have placed their hopes in Him. The good news is that hope is still alive, but it does not come from this earth but exclusively from God above.

Romans 8: 31-34 NLT

31What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

When we make God the focus of our hope we will never be disappointed, because God understands our frustrations, our pains and He also understands what it is to live in a decaying world. But hope waits for what yet has not arrived. If not it would not be hope. So the question that remains is what to do in the meantime? What do we do as we wait for our hopes to come true? Be the best person you can possible be, love even when you’re not loved. Forgive, serve, but don’t place your hope on any of those things but rather make sure that God is the foundation for all of your hopes.

It’s simple, if your hopes are placed anywhere or in anything of this world eventually you will end up disappointed, but if you wait patiently placing your hopes on God you will never end up disappointed.

Heavenly Father, thank you for being my hope, because although I live in a world that is cursed, I can put all my trust in You knowing that I’ll never be disappointed. Help me not tire of doing good while I wait for your work of salvation to be completed in me.