Hope is traditionally one of the themes of Advent. The season of Advent ended on Christmas Day, but I was led to write about hope on this day after Christmas. After all, isn’t hope really the point of the birth of Christ? In fulfilling the promise of the first Advent of our Savior, God demonstrates his love for us and promises us the second Advent during which Jesus will return to earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords to reign in power and glory (Revelation 19:11-16).

 “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” (Titus 2:11-14).

My real understanding of biblical hope came to me as a graduate student at seminary. Now I have always been in church and consider myself knowledgeable about the Bible. I accepted Christ as my Savior around my tenth birthday and have always had a relationship with Jesus. However, I admit that I have also been a child of my culture and not immune to teachings of nonbiblical writers. I became infatuated with worldly definitions of success, love, power, comfort, entertainment, and security.  The world view that is prevalent in our culture today denies the existence of absolute truth and good versus evil, and it encourages us to value worldly pleasures over the desire to please God.* These views have so infiltrated our thinking that they seem like truth—at least until really examined through the lens of the Scriptures. That is what Seminary did for me—it opened my eyes to the Truth. And here is the most important Truth that I learned (deep down I knew this, but I had really let the noise of current culture dilute it until it just wasn’t even obvious): Christ Is Our Only Hope in Life and Death.

In this context, hope is not “wishful thinking,” as in “I hope so.”  The hope we have in Christ is defined as “confident expectation.” When we say, “Christ is our only hope in life and death” we are not saying that maybe Christ is the answer to our problems. No! We are instead saying that we can confidently believe what Jesus tells us in John 14:6 when He says: “I am THE way and THE truth and THE life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Hope is believing that Jesus is who he says he is and that he can do what he says he can do. Biblical hope is built on faith (Hebrews 11:1).

Words are not sufficient to convey to you how transfixed I was as I sat in class discussing this truth in the context of dealing actual counseling situations, especially when those situations reflected issues in my own life. I can’t tell you how broken-hearted I was as I realized how toxic the culture is that we live in, how Satan has made so much headway in our schools, our laws, our environment, and how convicted I felt that I had bought into so many of these lies. And I cannot express the joy and excitement and relief that flooded my soul as we read these Scriptures and I really heard these Scriptures expressing the hope we have in Christ. Any teaching or counseling that does not include this confident expectation is, well, hopeless. Subscribers to this “hopeless” teaching and counseling are hopeless victims.

I am convinced that through Christ, we can redefine what it means to be joyful, successful, and secure; and to know that true joy, success, and security come from ^“…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

We know that Jesus not only authored our faith and through the gift of the Holy Spirit helps us to persevere and grow in our faith, He also seals our faith. “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14). This, my brothers, and sisters in Christ, is why we have hope. This is why our mission at Nashville Rescue Mission is “Hope for Today, Hope for Tomorrow, and Hope for Eternity.” This is why “Hope Lives Here” at Nashville Rescue Mission. This isn’t just a nice sentiment, it is literally why we exist.  Just like the old gospel hymn “Rescue the Perishing”, the mission of the Mission is to proclaim the hope we have in Christ and His power to save. Shelter, food, clothing, case management, and programs are a merely a means to that end.

In the first Chaplain’s Corner of Advent, I wrote about the Promise of a Savior. Then I wrote about the Peace and Joy that we have in knowing that Jesus is our Savior. Hope is what unites us with the Promise, and Peace and Joy are the resulting fruits of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. My prayer for you, as we are ending 2018 and moving into 2019, is this: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).

My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less (lyrics by Edward Mote)

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
And I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, his covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in Him be found!
Dressed in his righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne!

On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

In Christ,

Judy

*For more information on this topic, read: https://www.barna.com/research/competing-worldviews-influence-todays-christians/