Blind Faith Series: Hopeful Faith

We are living in a time where hope has become more imaginary than our favorite childhood cartoons. We see this being evident in the US where suicide deaths per 100,000 is in between 10-13. Why so hopeless? Do they not know there’s a true living God by the name of Jesus who came to save the lost? Well, the gospel is hid to them that are lost because the god of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not according to 2 Corinthians 4:4. Adolf Hitler said it like this: If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed. The biggest lie that’s been told is that Jesus doesn’t love you. My bible states that God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. He loved the world! In other words, His love isn’t predicated on your response; though your response dictates your abode in eternity. It seems that the more we remove Jesus from the forefront, the more hope is dissipated.  Dr. Martin Luther King said: We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope. That infinite hope is Jesus!

According to Hebrews 6:19, the hope that we as Christians have is as an “anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast.” As we know, an anchor is attached to a vessel by a cable, rope, or chain and dropped into the water to keep the vessel in place either by its weight or by its flukes, which grip the bottom; in other words, an anchor is used to secure a firm position. This is exactly what hope in the promises of God does for the believer. Hope becomes that abstract seed of expectancy, if cultivated, in due season gives birth to faith which is expressed through conviction or action. Hence, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” (Hebrews 11:1).

In Romans 5:4, Apostle Paul stated that hope is the fruit of our experience. This must be why the patriarch David spoke with such conviction when he approached Goliath; because he too had experience. Remember what David conveyed to King Saul? “Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them…The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.” The word “will” in the preceding text is used to indicate certainty; when used as a noun, it is defined as the mental faculty by which one deliberately chooses or decides (eliminate any other option) upon a course of action. We see the seed of expectancy when David professed that all will know that the Lord saves without sword or spear. We see his conviction in the slinging of the stone leading to his victory over Goliath.

Remember, without faith it is impossible to please God; and we’re made for his pleasure. Stay hopeful. Stay faithful.