The Power of Hope

Hope is really all we have, isn’t it, to walk through life expectantly and positively? Hope is not bound to the times in which we live, whether good or bad. Hope provides the motivation to keep moving forward when all that is occurring around us seeks the opposite. Grief, anger, bitterness, discouragement, failure seek to weigh us down, get us stuck, keep us from moving forward. We call this hopelessness.

The lack of hope leads us into gloomy places. We struggle to find the good and beautiful around us. Our lenses through which we view life are dark.

I can imagine Peter feeling like this after denying he even knew Jesus—not once, not twice, but three times. Imagine what it was like during those days for him. The rest of the disciples probably felt very low as well. At least Peter had the courage to follow the mob taking Jesus to the house of Caiaphas; the others had fled the scene altogether. The women accompanying Jesus during his ministry were also depressed by Jesus’ arrest and subsequent crucifixion. Though they were faithful, like the rest, they didn’t expect Jesus to be murdered.

They all were really without hope in that moment. Probably, many of us can relate to how they must have felt because we have felt that way as well. But the good news is, God did not leave them hopeless for long. That Sunday morning a new day dawned and with it a new hope! Jesus was alive! From that time on, we see a growing change in all the followers of Jesus. Yes, the Holy Spirit came upon them, but hope came first and led them to the position of being ready to receive the Spirit.

Hopelessness can quinch the Spirit’s work within us. I believe this is why the Lord did not tarry long in the tomb. Without hope, I don’t think Peter returns to the fold. Without hope, I don’t think Pentecost happens. Without hope, I don’t think the early church multiplies. Without hope, I don’t think the Church endures for more than two millennia. When Jesus walked out of that tomb, he brought the hope needed to sustain our faith regardless of what happens around us or to us.

When I look around today, I see a lot of hopelessness, both in the church and out. Many of us say we have hope, but I wonder sometimes when I see so many of the signs of hopelessness among us. The Resurrection is the reason for hope and its purpose was to be transformative, not merely a sign of good things to come in Eternity for those who believe. The Resurrection was meant to lead us into a hopefulness that can carry us through all of life’s difficulties, tragedies, and injustices with our hope intact and the Lord’s light continuing to shine brightly in us. This is what made the early church so attractive to unbelievers. They handled the difficulties of life differently. They continued to love one another despite their differences in culture, circumstances, and personalities. Hope made that possible.

We may live in a much more modern era, but our times are really much more similar than they are different from our spiritual ancestors. What they had which we may still be struggling to grasp is the transformative power of the hope which Jesus brought with his Resurrection. The early believers were markedly transformed. The question we should all ask ourselves this Resurrection Week is, can we say the same?

© Jim Musser 2023 All Scripture references are from the New International Version, 2011.