Hope
What Is Hope?
Hope is more than a wish. A wish says ‘maybe things will get better’; hope is the settled expectation that good is still coming, and that what you long for is worth waiting for. Real hope is only as strong as the thing it rests on, which is why so much of life is a search for a hope that will not let us down.
The human question
Everyone lives on hope, even people who would never call it that. We get out of bed because we expect the day to hold something worth having. But we have all felt hope thin out, when a wish we leaned on gave way, when the future stopped looking bright. So the honest question underneath ‘what is hope’ is usually a deeper one: is there anything I can hope in that will still be standing when everything else shakes?
The Christian perspective
Christians would say yes, and that hope was never meant to float free with nothing to hold it. The Scriptures speak of hope as an anchor, fastened to the character of God, who does not change and does not lie. That is why the Bible can call it a joyful and durable thing rather than a fragile one.
The reason a Christian can ‘abound in hope’ is not optimism about circumstances. It is a Person, and an event: Jesus, risen from the dead, which Christians take as God’s promise that death and loss do not get the last word. Hope, in this telling, has a name.
You are welcome to come and see
None of this asks you to pretend, to sign up, or to have it all figured out. The invitation of Jesus was always gentle: come and see. Read his own words, watch what he does with the tired and the hurting, and decide for yourself. The Gospel of John is a kind place to begin, and it costs you nothing but a little quiet and an honest heart.
Meet JesusRead the Gospel of JohnAsk for prayerJesus Christ is Lord.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between hope and wishing?
- A wish is a vague longing with nothing behind it. Hope is a settled expectation that rests on something trustworthy. The Bible describes Christian hope as an anchor fixed to the unchanging character of God, not merely a positive feeling.
- What do Christians hope in?
- Ultimately in Jesus, and specifically in his resurrection. Christians read the empty tomb as God's guarantee that love, life, and the people we lose are not finally swallowed by death (1 Peter 1:3).