Keep Hope Alive

SYNOPSIS: Biblical hope is not just a vague and lofty concept; it’s actually a very practical thing. Just like a football player puts on his helmet for the game, or a soldier puts on his helmet for battle, we’ve got to put on the helmet of hope, particularly the hope of our salvation because it is what enables us to endure life’s battles and come out victorious at the end of the day. That’s called practicing hope. So how can you literally put hope on as a helmet? First, quit being passive about hope. Hope is not just going to happen for you, you’ve got to practice it. Second, develop patterns of thinking that are founded in hope. The fact is, there are not only ways of thinking that will kill hope, there are ways of thinking that produce hope.

Moments With God // Proverbs 13:12

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

Hope is an incredible motivator in life, a powerful sustainer of love, and arguably, it is the most effective instigator of spiritual growth. On the other hand, the loss of hope is arguably the greatest devastator of life a human being can experience. That’s how profoundly powerful hope is. Speaking of the power of hope, Martin Luther King, Jr. said,

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

He is absolutely right: we must never lose infinite hope. The Contemporary English Version translates Proverbs 13:12 this way: “Not getting what you want can make you feel sick, but a wish that comes true is a life-giving tree.” That’s so true, isn’t it? Hope is that powerful.

We’ve all been there—the loss of a job, the breakup of a relationship, the crushing of a dream—it takes your legs right out from under you. It tempts you to give up, shrink back, curl up in a ball and just quit on life. There is no pain quite like the loss of hope.

But when you have hope you can survive and actually thrive through just about anything. When hope is stoked, even when what you’re hoping for is still a far-off expectation, suddenly there is energy, drive, focus, and patient endurance.

That’s how powerful hope is, and that’s why we got to practice it. Huh? Practice hope? Yeah, that’s what the Bible says. 1 Thessalonians 5:8 says we’ve got to exercise hopefulness…we’ve got to practice being hopeful…we’ve go to put on hope:

But since we belong to the day let us be sober and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and, for a helmet, the hope of salvation.

You see, hope is not just some vague and lofty concept; it’s actually a very practical thing. Just like a football player puts on his helmet for the game, or a soldier puts on his helmet for battle, we’ve got to put on the helmet of hope, particularly the hope of our salvation because it is what enables us to endure life’s battles and come out victorious at the end of the day.

So how can you literally put hope on as a helmet? First, quit being passive about hope. Hope is not just going to happen for you, you’ve got to practice it. Then second, develop and nurture patterns of thinking that are founded in hope. The fact is, there are not only ways of thinking that will kill hope, there are ways of thinking that produce hope.

Let me illustrate: Suppose you were to receive a phone call today from an old friend who enthusiastically says, “Friend, I have good news. You can take a 7-day trip to Hawaii with my company that won’t cost you a dime. We have room for two more…but here’s the catch: we leave tomorrow evening at 9:00 PM. The boss is taking us on his private jet, and we’ll be staying at his beachfront villa in Maui.”

You say you’ll call him right back, and the minute you get off the phone, you and your spouse, who was listening in, start thinking and planning. Out comes the pen and paper, and you begin to prioritize what you need to do to make this happen. Then you call the friend back, and tell him you’re in.

Now here’s the deal: I’ll guarantee that you will begin to ruthlessly align your life over the next 24 hours to pull this off. Am I right? You see, the hope of Hawaii tomorrow will change the way you live today.

There’s something even better and more permanent that Hawaii. It’s called heaven. The most important hope of all—the hope of your salvation—is promising you a better tomorrow. So, start aligning your life today for eternity with Jesus—and be ruthless about it—and watch what hope will do for you!