Day 13: About Hope

From Touching the Clouds: Encouraging Stories to Make Your Faith Soar

While the word hope in our modern lingo has come to mean something we wish would happen—“I hope we win the game,” I hope it rains”—in the Bible, hope means “assurance.”

In the New Testament, the Greek word for hope means “favorable and confident expectation.” It describes the happy anticipation of good: “in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago” (Titus 1: 2 NASB).

A close connection exists between joy and hope. “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15: 13 NASB).

If we place our hope in people or in things—our careers, the economy, our spouses, our children, our possessions—we will be disappointed. Hope based on mankind’s plan is shaky because the foundation is not firm. However, since God is the author of hope, we can trust in His promises

Hope is living:  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (I Peter 1: 3 NASB).