Hope: A Solid Foundation in an Unsteady World

Very few subjects are so neglected in the Christian world than hope. While everybody knows the verse that has stamped “faith, hope, and love” across every Christian t-shirt and poster in pretty, cursive script, few people stop to think through these pillars of our faith and what they mean for us. Now, faith and love are pretty well covered - faith is our belief, putting our trust in Jesus. Salvation by grace, through faith - we’ve got that down. And love - love God, love one another, Corinthians 13 - I can almost guarantee the subject of love has been addressed, whether you’ve been in church your whole life or a couple months. And don’t get me wrong - I cannot overstate the importance of faith and love in our lives as Christians.

However, while we emphasize faith and love, we tend to dismiss hope as simple and naïve, forgetting that the three are closely intertwined.

The relationship between faith, hope, and love is strikingly similar to that of the “Three Sisters” in Native American culture. Back in the day, Native Americans, primarily tribes like the Iroquois, had a very specific way of farming. Their whole system revolved around three crops - squash, beans, and corn. Those crops were referred to as the “Three Sisters” because each one grew best when it was planted beside it’s counterparts. Each had its own role to play in helping the others grow and thrive. The corn provided a sturdy stalk for the beans to grow around. The beans infused the soil with nitrogen, making it more fertile, while holding the plants together with its vines. And the large, thorny leaves of the squash sheltered all three from both sunlight and animals.

Similar to the Three Sisters, faith, hope, and love are better together. Hope provides a sturdy foundation for faith and love to grow and thrive. Faith is the protector, not against scorching sun or hungry animals, but the much more dangerous doubt and fear. And love twines around it all, fueling it with nutrients and holding it together. Because we have hope, we have faith, and because we have faith, we can love fearlessly. Without love, there is no purpose. Without faith, there is no action. And without hope, there is no foundation.

So if it’s this important to have all three virtues, doing their work together, why have we dismissed their very foundation? While we talk about the value of faith and love, we actually weaken both by neglecting to address hope.

I think the root of the issue is a problem with our perception. When we think of hope, the innocent, child-like belief in Santa comes to mind, maybe the wish you make as you toss coins in a fountain. You hope for the best, hope things work out, hope people have a good day. The word hope is thrown around so much in our world that it has lost its true meaning. We hope for things all the time, fingers crossed, wishing on stars, all the while rightly acknowledging that this kind of hope doesn’t do much.

But real hope, Biblical hope is not wishing for something good, it is being convinced of the goodness of God in our lives now and in heaven. It is similar to faith, the difference being faith is the actual action of believing, while hope is the object of our belief. Hope as a verb brings to mind the image of fingers crossed, eyes closed, desperately wishing. Biblical hope is not a verb or an action - it is a noun, more specifically a Person.

Jeremiah 29:11 gives a beautiful picture of what hope really is.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”

As teenagers, we’ve heard this verse a lot. Our whole lives seem to revolve around our future, which is scary and overwhelming at times. Jeremiah 29:11 is what people use to say, “don’t worry! It will all work out!” While I firmly believe that God has good plans in store for our future, I don’t think this is what this verse means. When used like this, it carries the connotation that God is going to make our lives safe, easy, fun, and comfortable. I can tell you now, He’s not. Yes, He blesses us and takes pleasure in giving us good things, but ultimately He will prize our spiritual growth above our physical comfort in this world. So what does Jerimiah 29:11 really say about hope?

Jeremiah 29 is titled “Letter to the Exiles.” It actually addresses the not so fun topic of Israel’s banishment to Babylon. But right in the middle of the pain and punishment is Jerimiah 29:11. God tells his people that he will not leave them in their mess, but that He will redeem them and bring them home. Sound familiar?

This promise transcends just Israel’s captivity in Babylon - it also applies to their (and our) captivity in sin. God says He plans to rescue them by giving them a hope. Again, here we see hope being used as a noun. Hope is a gift, something we receive, something solid and real. So what is it?

1 Thessalonians 1:3 says this: “We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Hope is the object of our faith. Our faith is in Jesus. Which means that hope is something much more powerful than a wish - it is the very person of Jesus Christ, our solid rock, our foundation. Hope is not the weak belief of the naïve - it is the real presence of Christ in our lives, and the hope that through Him we have been promised eternal life, much better than the superficial pleasures and accomplishments of this world.

If you benefit at all from this article, I want you to hear this. This world is broken. We sin. Tragedies happen. People in power do evil things. Politics divide us. People young and old waste their lives on themselves. But our world is not a lost cause. You are not a lost cause. Our nation is not a lost cause. This generation is not a lost cause. Why? Because our Hope is much bigger than any brokenness and pain in our world. Don’t buy into the lie that we are without hope. Our Hope is just as real and powerful and alive as the on day He redeemed us. If you build your faith on anything, let it be on the solid foundation of Hope, the only way we can stand firm in our unsteady world.