ACTUALIZING HOPE

We examined last week and elsewhere that hope is the key to living a meaningful and stable life. However, while hope is theoretically an attractive concept, how real is it practically in our lives? And if hope is thin in our experience, how can we actualize hope and make it a living reality? Three principles are outlined from the Bible-

1. Detachment: ‘For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope- the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,——-’ (Titus 2:11-13)

The connection between grace, denial and hope is brought out in this passage. Without denial there can be no real experience of hope. Imagine going through a sickness or some adversity. Man has two choices- he could either wallow in self-pity and misery, focusing on the adversity that has befallen him; or he could dissociate himself mentally from the adversity and fix his thoughts on the future wherein the adversity will be taken away. The latter forms the basis for earthly hope when man goes through trial.

Applying this on a grander scale for life itself, man has two choices. He could either immerse himself in the worldly life with its attendant pleasures, power and comfort or he could detach himself mentally from these and fix his eyes on the eternal and that which has true value in God’s eyes. The former is natural and easy to do, the latter is extremely difficult to practice and involves a painful denial of man’s natural instincts. This denial is mandatory for hope to be actualized and is made possible by the grace of God that has been revealed in Christ.

2. Patience: ‘Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.’ (Romans 12:12)

While detachment is a virtue that has to be built up throughout life’s experience, it is patience that helps man get through the experience of adversity itself. When struck with trouble, man realizes that he has to contend with the concept of being in time, which causes trouble and its attendant anguish to linger. Getting through those experiences needs patience- that allows man to fix his eyes on the future and grind through the pain of the present.

3. Celebration: ‘——but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;perseverance, character; and character, hope.’ (Romans 5:3)

When detachment becomes a habit and patience a virtue, man is able to celebrate his adversity. Paul who constantly rejoiced in his sufferings shows us how perseverance, character and hope naturally flow out of the experience of suffering. And knowing this helps man to declare suffering in his life as God-ordained, rejoice in it painful though it might be, and welcome eternity from a distance.

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