In the world, everything seems to turn upside down, love seems an illusion, wars here and there, rumors of violence, recession, inflation, money makes no meaning any longer, brothers rising against brothers, husbands, and wives living in the same roof as an enemy, political instability, famine, sickness, heartbreak, unsure future, men’s love wax cold. In a world like this, where do we place our HOPE? Today we will delve into Three aspects of Hope.
Three Aspect of Hope
Acts 24:15 ”And have hope toward God, which they also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust”.
What Is Hope?
The English dictionary defines hope as a desire for some good, accompanied by an expectation of obtaining it, or a belief that it is obtainable; an expectation of something which is thought to be desirable; confidence; pleasing. For example; I will buy a car tomorrow.
Scripturally, to hope in God means to expect great things from GOD. It means to have a confident expectation of something great in the future. Hope is a person.
Hope has moral certainty in it, the focus is God’s promises, it is not founded on earthly reasons, but natural hope may exist only as a feeling or mental attitude, it may or may not have a strong foundation.
Discussion
Anyone who does not know Jesus Christ is lost and without hope in the world. Hope believes in God’s possibility (Romans 5:5) “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us”.
We need hope, peace, and knowledge, that Jesus Christ knows our troubles and that He has great concern and compassion for us and he is not leaving us alone.
In Acts 24:5, Paul was described as a pestilent fellow, a mover of sedition among the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the Nazarenes, one who profane the Jewish temple but the accusation did not weaken his faith and hope in God’s promises of safety and protection.
Hopelessness creates or breeds feelings of depression, the feeling of suicide, the feeling of lack of purpose in life, and a loss of sense of one’s capabilities and creativity (Ephesians 2:12; Proverbs 12:25).
Hopelessness is a spiritual entity whose mission is to hinder individuals or groups from serving God. But God is the best answer to hopelessness, He is there and only God can effectively support you forever.
God’s hope encourages, motivates, and keeps one on the road to faith and victory (Ecclesiastes 9:4; Ephesians 4:4- 6) locate the word of God concerning the hope and meditate on it consistently.
Despair and heaviness are everywhere but God and His promises are the only long-term cure for hopelessness. Rex Rouis said, “ A desire becomes a hope when we discover a reason for its expectation and there is no better reason to expect something than a promise given in the word of God”. God’s involvement goes to the heart of the issue.
Only the power of God can change you on the outside and also change you deep down on the inside.
Aspects Of Hope
Hope has its moral certainty. In this message, we will look at three basic aspects or characteristics of Hope
A. Righteousness
Sin is a major destroyer of your walk with God. It will take you far away from God and anything that takes you away from God is a risk to your Christian faith.
Isaiah59:1-3 says
” Behold the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save: neither His ear is heavy that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips spoken lies, your tongue had muttered perverseness”
The scripture tells us that every act of sin is detrimental to your spiritual walk because sin creates a barrier between you and the Almighty God (1Corinthians6:14-17)
Sinners and backsliders are under severe bondage. When you come across them, you may not have an idea of the things they are faced with.
You may not know the deep hidden things that happen to them, but the truth is their lives are full of torments and turbulence orchestrated by Satan (John 10:10).
The scripture says it perfectly,” the ways of transgressors is hard” Proverbs 13:15. They may dress flashily, socialize freely, feed exorbitantly, and laugh frequently but deep inside this outward appearance lay innumerable difficulties.
Closely, tied to the bondage of sin are other yokes which the enemy has bound those in the darkness of sin (Psalm 107:10-11) says “ Affliction ( sickness, demonic oppressions, poverty, crises after crisis, disappointment, feeling of depression, heartbreak ) but this yoke can be broken in CHRIST.
Once your hope is tied to God, you are to live a righteous life. The sinful habits, practices, places, and companions you used to enjoy before will be done away with.
Jesus told a man who had a protracted affliction “ Behold thou art made whole; sin no more lest a worst thing come unto thee” ( John 15:14).
The biggest victory anyone can claim to have is victory over his flesh and personal tendencies that lead to downfall as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthian 9;27
“ But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I should be a castaway”
Ephesians 4:24 says you should put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Romans 12:1-2, Isaiah 61:3. Don’t allow sin and the quilt of your mistake to dissipate your zeal for God and faith in Him.
2Corinthians5:21 says “For he hath made him be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” Look unto Jesus who has been made your righteousness and live like Him who took your place of sin and gave you His righteousness.
When you come to Christ you become a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17) says ”Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature—“ Live a life of righteousness daily and bring forth fruit and works of righteousness.
B. Humility
Proverbs16:18-19 “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall; Better it is to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud”.
Humility gives room to knowledge and with Godly knowledge, mistakes are averted, and doors are opened for exploitation and success. (Proverbs 16:32, Proverbs 22:4).
The human race is fighting daily to amass wealth for themselves. Understand that life is not the product of what you get but Christ in you the hope of glory ( Colossians 1:27).
Humility goes before honor (1 Peter 5:6) Paul understood the benefit of humility in such a way that when he was stoned to death, and when they that stoned him left he got back to life ( Acts 14:19-20; Matthew 23:11-12).
The bible in Numbers 11:3 says” Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth” He also has more spiritual authority than anybody else on earth during his generation.
In Luke 14:11, Jesus sets forth a powerful principle of life,” For whoever exalt himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted”
1 Peter 5:6 states “ Therefore, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time”.
When we operate in pride and are conceited regarding our gifts, talents, and accomplishments, we are demonstrating that we do not appreciate or understand the role that God holds in everything we do.
Humility is not a lack of confidence or a low opinion of yourself (John14:6; Matthew4:19). None of us can succeed in our strength or wisdom, we should always remember it is God that makes what we do possible as Paul put it “what has thou that thou didst not receive (1Corinthian4:7).
Our mind is the seat of hope (Ephesians 6:17).
Humility is honestly assessing our strengths and weaknesses in light of God’s holiness and our imperfections. Rick Waren says “ Humility is not denying your strengths; it is being honest about your weaknesses”
In Matthew 18, Jesus explained to his disciples that whosoever humbles himself like a little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” So how do we become like little children?
Being childlike means being humble enough to trust Jesus when tempted to place our trust in ourselves, depending on God in totality. He is not telling us to be childish.
There is no room for people who are so full of themselves. John Ruskin said
“ I believe that the first test of a truly great man is his humility; I don’t mean by humility, doubt of his power. But great men have a curious feeling that the greatness is not of them, but through them, and they see something divine in every other man and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful”
Humility naturally leads to obedience and submission to higher authority. A humble man recognizes God’s leading and is contented wherever he is led. Humility is meant to be an active healthy role in one’s entire lifetime, it should not end in self-pity (Matthew 11:29; John 10:30-33).
Real humility is solution-oriented in healthy directions ( Philipians2:3-4; Romans12:3; Matthew26:29; Ephesians4:2)
C. Patience
Patience is a” valuable virtue” It is the ability to endure under difficult circumstances, to persevere in the face of delay or provocation without acting in anger, and to exhibit forbearance under strain, especially when faced with long-term challenges.
An unknown author said “The easiest way to lose all you have and be miserable throughout life is to live without patience”
Webster’s dictionary defines patience as the suffering of affliction, pain, toil, calamity, provocation, or other evil with a calm, unruffled temper, endurance without murmuring or fretfulness, from a kind of heroic pride or from Christian submission to the divine will.
Patience is not about being quiet, gentle, or friendly. It is the fruit of the Spirit, it is the work of the Spirit of God. And until you are regenerated you cannot have this nature of God (2Peter1:5-6)
For one to prevail over the many trials and storms of life and also be qualified for God’s earthly blessings and eternal kingdom, patience is necessary. Patience is the key to having a lasting and rewarding walk with God.
God’s ways are often so different from our ways but with patience, we will easily submit to his will, with the understanding that all events of our lives are working for our good in Christ Jesus.
In the natural sense, we do not expect delays in our requests and expectations from God especially if we are sure we are in the center of his will. But things don’t always work out this way in God’s arrangement.
Hebrews10;36 “ For ye need patience that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise” We need patience to receive God’s promises.
God’s pattern is different from our own, as humans, we are always in haste being limited in vision and understanding. Sometimes out of desperation, and hunger, we prefer to eat the fruit of our labor unripe thus wasting it.
God does not act on impulse, He has His carefully set timetable (Ecclesiastes).
God’s timing is always perfect and for the best. (James 1:4) As long as we are not the only ones in the world, we need the patience to relate with others for our good and to be of help to others.
Without patience, we will always find ourselves at loggerheads with others with different shortcomings, mentalities, temperaments, backgrounds, expectations, cultures, experiences, and levels of understanding.
We may even become so bitter and vengeful (1Thessalonians5:14)
Talking about our life’s affairs, everyone wants to experience and enjoy a comfortable life, no doubt about that, but persecution here and there, forceful attack from the heathen but without wavering we must “ run with patience the race that is set before us”( Hebrews12:1) knowing very well that soon “ he that shall come will come, and not tarry (Hebrews10:37; 1Peter5:6).
Refusing to allow patience to fulfill its purpose in our lives will cause us to make foolish decisions, delay our blessings, and make and attract the displeasure of God as it was with King Saul who lost his position, as the first king of Israel through impatience (1Samuel13:13).
Impatience is a certain destroyer, lives are lost daily instantly or slowly because of impatience. Adonijah’s and Absalom’s lives were cut short (1 Kings 2:23- 24; 2 Samuel 18:9- 15), It caused Esau his birthright (Genesis 25). Impatience takes away peace, happiness, and long life. Without patience, HOPE is lost. According to Martin Luther,” Everything that is done in the world is done by hope”.
Christ was the embodiment of patience, He was patient with His disciples, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and the entire humanity, Christ is faithful to his words, and He will remember you when you patiently wait for Him and follow His will for your life at all times.
Thomas Brooks says “ A Christian will part with anything rather than his hope, he knows that hope will keep the heart both from aching and breaking, from fainting and sinking, he knows that hope is a beam of God, a spark of glory and that nothing shall extinguish it till the soul be filled with glory.”
Conclusion
Hope is a precious gift God has given to us In Christ Jesus. Despite the negative news everywhere, it looks like we are living in a frightening era in the history of the human race.
God loves us and is ever ready to see us through (Jeremiah 29:11; Psalm 33:18). When we hold unto Him our life produces good results daily in every aspect of our endeavors.
FAQs
1. Where do you place your hope?
Hope is often placed in various sources depending on an individual’s beliefs and circumstances. It can be found in faith, inner resilience, supportive relationships, personal goals, and a positive outlook on the future.
2. In the time of challenge, who do you look up to?
During challenging times, people often turn to different sources of inspiration and support. Some may look up to family and friends, role models, mentors, or even their inner strength and resilience for guidance and encouragement.
3. Why do you need Hope?
Hope serves as a vital emotional and psychological resource. It provides motivation, helps people persevere through difficult situations, and fosters a sense of optimism about the future. It can also improve mental and physical well-being, making it an essential aspect of human resilience and coping.
