False Hope and True Hope

“Hope in something that can be taken away is always false hope…”

Hope in something that can be taken away is always false hope, and yet so many of us, even as Christians, continue to put our hope in these things. We become obsessed with putting our hope in money, relationships, jobs, events, you name it. After a while, when we realize that none of those things satisfies us, we grow hopeless and see greater value in death than life.

“Confidence in anything other than Jesus Christ as represented in the gospel message is to place confidence in something that will not last.”

In order for hope to be real and not false hope, it must be permanent. When everything is taken away, when all is lost, when we wake up and realize that we have nothing, true hope remains. Fo “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” These words make a powerful statement: hope in Jesus is the highest hope there can be. Confidence in anything other than Jesus Christ as represented in the gospel message is to place confidence in something that will not last.

True hope is hope in the Source of that which is invisible and remains eternal. Take a look at the list in Galatians 5:22-23: 22: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” What characteristic in that list can we physically see with the naked eye? None, right? And yet every one of those characteristics of a Christian will remain with him or her when they die and go to be with the Lord. Only God can give us that which is eternal. For those who have trusted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, the most important thing is their eternal Salvation. What Jesus did on the cross is forever. His grace is never-ending, His love is never-ending, His forgiveness is never-ending, and thus our hope in Him will never end.

There will come a day when Christ will return to claim His bride and we who believe in Him will be taken to heaven to remain with Him forever. Until that day, we have hope. Hope looks to the future and sees beyond the moment. It sees victory while staring into the face of defeat. It sees glory on a cloudy day. It sees life beyond death. It believes in the outcome before we ever begin, when we know that our hope is built on the solid rock of Jesus Christ.