Hope- The First Sunday in Advent

Hope – The First Sunday in Advent

This is the first week in the Advent Season - the countdown to Christmas – and the ‘theme’ is Hope. But what does the word actually mean? To truly understandthe concept of hope – a word that can be a noun AND a verb and can be a state of being AND a state of mind – it all comes down to context. 

In a secular worldview, hope is a wish – a desire for something difficult or unattainable to happen. For example you might say “The temperature is above freezing but I hope it will snow for Christmas!” The biblical definition of hope is an expectation of what God has promised. An example would have you saying“We have hope in the belief that what God has said He will do will happen.” At the very basic level of understanding, hope is a human ability. We are able tochoose to believe that something will occur beyond our control or intervention with no supporting physical evidence. 

The bible defines for us in Galatians 5 some human abilities that are always a matter of free will choice – “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control…” but 1 Corinthians 13 says that faith, hope, and love remain. Faith and love are measurable by human standards – “faith as small as a mustard seed” Matthew 17:20 and “Greater love has no one than this” John 15:13 – but you either hope or you don’t. The only measure for it is in God’s faithfulness, not ours. Our part, as usual, is to make the free will choice, all on our own, to hope or not. 

Choose your context. Will you wish upon a star or hope in glory? Make sure today that YOUR hope is not ‘wishful thinking’ but the bedrock knowledge that God loves you and will do what He says He will do. Be blessed today!