Looking for Hope

In the novel, Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., an important book comes to light. It is titles "What Can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years?" The chief character is anxious to read it. But when he does, he finds that it doesn't take long. The whole book consists of one word: "Nothing."

Many people are concerned with our future these days. One group tells us that we are creating enough emissions that we are burning up the atmosphere and the earth will soon be at a literal boiling point. Others warn of nuclear war, alien invasion, earthquakes or other natural disasters.

Fears about the future drives people to develop some sort of plan to survive. People are concerned not only about their mortality, but about immortality as well. Some religious sects are experiencing unprecedented growth as people seek a way to live forever. The New Age movement offers the hope of reincarnation, or even the possibility that you can become god. Others try the scientific alternatives to death, such as cryogenics. Still others are betting on the fact that when you die, that’s all there is. They dismiss hope altogether and believe there is no life after death.

All these people have one thing in common: they have no hope. Whether they have a bleak view of the future or hold to some humanistic hope for a bright tomorrow or even a self-invisioned heaven, they are all unregenerate in heart.

We who are in Christ know that there are only two possibilities after we leave this life: heaven or hell. God created them both. For those who have faith in Christ have the hope of heaven; those who are lost have no hope and are doomed to experience the eternal hopelessness of hell. It may be that one of the greatest torments in hell will be the realization that the pain will never cease.

What is hope? People use the word as a synonym for a wish or a desire. We hope to visit friends or family soon; we hope to get a tax refund; we hope to break 90 on the golf course. But for the Christian, hope is not a wish, it’s a reality. In the biblical sense of the word hope is fact not yet realized. God has promised it and He will fulfill that promise. In the spiritual sense, hope is the Christian character that gives us a confident attitude toward the future and provides us with the proper motivation to expend our energy in living like Christ to the best of our ability.

Hebrews 6:19-20 says, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf.” Our hope is grounded firmly in Christ Jesus Who has entered the heavenly Holy of Holies on our behalf, acting as our great High Priest and forever making intercession for us. Peter adds in 1 Peter 1:3-6 that we have been given a “new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” Jesus Christ is the foundation of our hope and since He is unshakable our hope is secure.

If you don’t know that hope, look to Christ today. It is only through Him that you can find……

A Steadfast Hope