Hope for Dummies

There is a book series called ”For Dummies” with nearly every topic imaginable. The most popular ones are the books written in regard to computers and IT, which gives a foundational teaching in a certain program or IT related topic. Two classical examples are “Word for Dummies” and “Excel for Dummies”.

What is the worst case scenario – the worst imaginable situation for a human being?
I have a relative who had to remove one of her breasts due to cancer. Is that one of the worst things that could happen? I know a young preacher who lost his dear daughter in a tragic drowning accident. Could anything be worse than that? We have all read and heard about catastrophes, accidents, conflicts, problems, wars, illness and disasters. One worse than the other. But what is the bottom line for a human being? Perhaps is it drawn by death?

I don’t believe the worst thing a person can experience is something that is “put on us” from our external surroundings and situations, instead, I believe the worst thing that can happen is when that fire within us just goes out. When our HOPE is no more. When the HOPE dies, everything is dark. Death can steal our beloved ones, but if we still have hope, the situation is not totally dark. The flames of hope within us can even shine past the shadows of death! As long as the hope burns within us, it’s not hopeless!

Let me explain to you this fantastic phenomena called hope! This little, seemingly meaningless word called hope will sooner or later mean everything to you! It will make you or brake you. And if your life is ever shaken dramatically, you will benefit richly from knowing what hope means!

The 4 “W’s” of hope (What-Who-Where-Why?)
1. What is hope?
The Bible teaches us that hope is an anchor for our soul. (Hebrews 6:19) Your hope becomes useful and efficient when you have storms in your life. Then it’s your hope that carries you. It becomes your anchor in the situation. Our hope can also be like a light house which gives you direction. As long as you see a glimpse of light from a light house, it’s possible to point out the course of direction. Then you are not hopelessly caught in the stormy waves. Thus, hope prevents us from drifting here and there, without knowing we are even in motion. There are many Christians who after 50 years realize that most of their lives, they have drifted with waves and wind in all kinds of directions without any solid anchoring point. Their focus has changed after fashions, trends or the devil’s seductions. But hope is a stable anchor that keeps us from undesirable side tracks. First when our faith and life is anchored we can expect stability both when life runs smoothly and when it definitively doesn’t.

Let’s clarify with a short comparison of faith and hope. Faith and hope is like a couple of Siamese twins born in our hearts when the word of God is preached and received. Faith and hope have so much in common they can’t live without each other. Yet, if we want to separate them, we can characterize faith contra hope in the following way:

Hope is light in the dark. Faith is a sword in your hand!
Hope is something that lies ahead of us. Faith is something we have right now!
Hope is future. Faith is present!
Hope says: I will receive it! Faith says: I have it!
Hope is desiring and longing after. Faith is conviction and knowing.
Hebrew 11:1 says: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. Necklaces carrying a cross, an anchor or a heart are well known. They symbolize the way of faith, hope and love. Therefore the Bible crowns the Christian HOPE as one of the great ones. Hope is important, yes more than that: It’s necessary! Without hope you are a living dead life.

What is then the Christian hope expressed in one word?
It is Christ! 1 Timothy 1:1 has this beautiful way of expressing it: Christ, our hope!

2. Who is our hope?
In the 80’s my uncle bought a boat. The proud owner took his boat out on water and planned to sleep over night in it. He threw anchor in a cove by a Norwegian city called Kristiansen and fell asleep to the calming waves. In the morning he woke up to a strange noise. The boat was hitting something (or something was hitting against the boat).
My uncle jumped to his feet, climbed out of the cabin and looked out. There one of his biggest surprises met him. As high as my uncle could see there were two grey painted metal walls on both sides of his little boat! He was squeezed between two warships! My uncle had not been careful enough about how he anchored his boat. Thus, during the night his boat had drifted away and ended up between two warships which were in training in the area! My question is: What is your anchor tied to?

You can’t throw the anchor on an ocean ground of sand. It has to be attached to a rock! And the only rock that will endure in both life and death is The Rock – Christ!

The Christian hope is founded in God Himself – because God is the God of hope! (Romans 15:13.)

3. Why put our hope in God?
The answer is simple. Only GOD can give true and lasting hope. Hope without God doesn’t work, but with God it will! Ephesians 2:11 says it clearly: ”You were once.. without hope and without God in the world.” Jeremiah 29:11 says that “God will give us future and hope!” Could it be better? Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:3 ”that we are born again to a LIVING HOPE!”

4. How far does hope reach?
One of the taboos in our society is death. We seldom talk about death, at least not seriously. We watch (or are being numbed by) gruesome kinds of deaths displayed on TV and in movies. Terrible accidents and murders are exposed to us almost daily. But a calm and sincere conversation about death is a rarity. Most young people today have never touched or seen a dead body. The dead are picked up by professionals only minutes after the time of death. Therefore death is often surrounded by myths and mystical scary imaginations.

But for us who believe, we have a hope that stretches far beyond death! For us death is only a door into LIFE. First Thessalonians 4:13 encourages us and tells us not “to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope”, when some of our beloved ones die.

The Christian hope can be divided in two: Either heaven or the return of Christ. Let both hope about heaven and hope about the soon coming return of Christ fill your heart. If you keep this hope alive in your heart during your life on earth, the same hope will keep you alive on the day of death.

Be RICH in the hope (Romans 15:13)!
Be JOYFUL in the hope (Romans 12:12)!
Be PATIENT in the hope (1. Thessalonians 1:3)!

Written by: Kåre Skuland
Translated by: Marit Dale Aarseth.