(3 Minute Read)

I asked one of my close friends to write a guest post on the topic of hope. I asked him specifically because he recently come out of an extremely painful season and I watched him cling on to Hope more than ever during it.

Here it is.

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“I hope you feel better soon!”

“I hope you have a wonderful day!”

“I hope to win the lottery someday!”

“I hope to meet the spouse of my dreams!”

I hope…, I hope…, I hope…

My previous experience with hope is somewhat like a wishful phrase that boost another person’s feelings for a moment. A phrase that is encouraging but has no depth, weightiness, nor sustenance, just words that are left unto chance.

“May the odds ever be in your favor.”

I’m glad to say that Hope has encountered me and I’m forever changed. Hope is not a dice roll and luckily landing on numbers you are wanting. It’s more than a friendly phrase that you say to another to uplift their spirits.

Hope is a person, His name is Jesus.

Jesus is the cure for the everyday mundane life.
Jesus is the cure for the purposeless life.
Jesus is the cure for the visionless life.
Jesus is the Hope that the world needs.

He brings satisfaction to the fullest.

In John 10:10 Jesus says, “…I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

The day I experienced this abundantly life-giving hope is when my daughter passed away. I found myself with questions about Jesus’ goodness. Is He actually the Hope of the world? Is He actually who He says He is? Why did He let my daughter die?

I closed my eyes and just like a movie that played in my head I could see Jesus sitting in a boat with me, sitting across from me just staring at me. Winds and waves were trampling against my boat but He sat still and stared at me with so much passion and love.

I felt peace.
I felt love.
I felt redemption.
I felt hope.

It never took away the feeling of hurt that my daughter passed and I don’t think it ever will, but I felt so much Hope for a better future.

I firmly believe that death doesn’t have the final say, but Jesus does.

In that verse above Jesus says He brings “Life more abundantly.”

It’s not material things but abundance of the presence of Jesus that brings satisfaction.

Anchoring our hope in anything else other than Jesus is shallow, fragile, and impermanent.

This is hope in its purest form:

Habakkuk 3:17 – “Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

When Hope is placed in the one who is constant (Jesus):

Abundance is found in the midst of lack;
Peace is found in midst of chaos;
Purpose is found in the mundane;
Hope is found in despair.

My charge is this:

Hope in Jesus — Hope is Jesus.

With love,

A friend of Jesus