Without Hope - Romans 12:12

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. - Romans 12:12

    This past Easter Sunday, our pastor gave a message of hope. After hearing God’s word on the subject, I started to think - “What about those who don’t believe in God? From where do they draw their hope? And is such a hope truly “hope?”
    So from where does worldly hope arise? Hope certainly doesn’t come from the world and all it’s frivolity. A life without real and meaningful hope can only be a life lived in despair.  Look at the sheer numbers of depression, anxiety, sexual confusion, drug and alcohol addiction, and suicide. These maladies are the results of lives lived without hope! The world offers no hope. In fact, the fastest way to despair is to place our hope in anything world related. It truly is like grasping at the wind. “Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.” - Ecclesiastes 2:11.
    Hope in the things of this world is meaningless. Such hope has no anchor, nothing steadfast to hold onto. I ask anyone to provide me with an example of how one might ‘hope in the world.’ What will be the lynchpin to the fulfillment of that hope? What will be the basis of their hope in this world?
    From the Christian perspective, we have every reason to hope because ours is based upon our faith. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” - Hebrews 11:1. Our hope is not derived from any worldly thing. Our hope comes directly from the word of God. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” - Jeremiah 29:11. All our hopes are bound up in God and nothing else because nothing else can guarantee the outcome of our hope. “Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.” - Psalm 146:5.
    My late pastor, R.C. Sproul once wrote - “Those without Christ are without hope; those in Christ are never without hope.” The Bible assures us - “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” - 1 Peter 1:3-4. Jesus is the source of all Christian hope. If Christ is truly not the source of our hope we are truly all without hope! Tongue-twisting as that may sound, the words are intertwined like the very vine that Jesus Himself spoke about. “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” - John 15:5.
    It is this surety provided by Jesus that we stake our hopes on. And we are guaranteed our hopes will not be disappointed.
    Let us look at the title passage again. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. If we rejoice or take joy in our hope, then and only then can we be patient in tribulation. It is the man without hope who gripes and grieves over his lot in life. The man with hope can experience joy despite his problems because his hope is anchored in Jesus. “But how,” you ask, “can one find joy in troubles?” In prayer, my friends, in constant prayer. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” - Philippians 4:4-7. We are told to rejoice in the Lord always, do not be anxious about anything, but pray and be thankful and let our requests be made known unto God! This is the key to having a hope that has its anchor in God: be joyful, be prayerful, be thankful, and make our supplications to God . . . not to the world!
    We can certainly place all our hopes in mankind and wait on the world to grant what we want or we can pray to God in thankfulness and joy and let our hope ride on the Spirit of God rather than the fickleness of man. Where does your hope come from? Do you even have any hopes?