Unfading Hope

Jesus doesn’t just give us eternal life. He makes it possible for us to live with everlasting hope.

But how can we be sure of that during those times when everything around us seems to be falling apart?  When everything we trusted in and relied on, the very foundation of our life, seems to have been snatched away, leaving us shaken in spirit with fading hope. And “hope” is something we seem to need to keep moving forward confidently, even in our darkest of times.

Hope. It’s a term that identifies something that seems critical to helping us overcome those things that can steal our joy, poison our spirit, and keep us bound up in discouragement. It’s then no accident that its concept is also interlaced through the Bible’s New Testament. Today, it drew my attention like never before, and made me question its deeper meaning.

Hope is not wishful thinking, as so many tend to think, but it’s having a confident expectation of something good or better. As Christians, we don’t need to place our hope and trust in any fallible man or their plans or programs, for we are blessed to be able to place our hope in Christ, who is unshakable, and unchangeable. He’s what Hebrews 13:8 tells us, “… the same yesterday, today and forever.”

He’s our source of strength and ability to persevere. It’s hard though, for us to keep our focus and hope on Christ and his peace when we are feeling overwhelmed with the darkness.

The good news is, when we’re a Child of God, we don’t have to face our struggles alone. We’re able to overcome this life’s darkness by trusting and remaining in His light, for he has already amazingly overcome the world on our behalf.

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10 NIV)