Hope is open hands. Awaiting. Open hearts. Expecting.
Today, the Advent season begins. Today, churches all across the world lit the first candle. Today, we – if even for a split second – are reminded to hope.
This month in Malaysia has taught me a lot about hope. Before, hope was almost a childish word to me. Hope, wish, dream… all basically the same… all words that my realism didn’t prefer to use or put any weight in. The first candle on the Advent wreath meant nothing more to me than to remember the hope of the people that awaited the Messiah’s birth and that we are now in a season of awaiting His return. However, there’s hope there in between we often miss. The Messiah is still alive, so we can and should hope. Hope is not just a wish or a dream. It’s a desperate longing and expectation of something good. Hope is actually a form of worship – it’s a display of faith and trust that God can and will move in our lives.
Today, I saw refugees lift their hands in worship to The Messiah praising Him and confidently hoping He would one day restore their homeland. Today, I watched a man I don’t even really know look my team in the eyes as He prayed aloud over us – firmly hoping and trusting that God would answer His prayer to put His fire within us and use us to bring Kingdom everywhere we go. Today, I looked within my own heart of reason and realism and saw a flicker of hope that began to well up as a fire.
Recently, our squad leader had us to do an activity that I, quite frankly, was not initially fond of. She gave us time to go sit with The Lord and “dream” with Him. I almost laughed out loud. Me? “Dream?” Nada. I’m not five. We talk a lot about choosing into things on the Race that are uncomfortable and vulnerable though, so I decided to just go with it. And I’m really glad I did. I was able to write down so many things that The Lord showed me I have a passion for and that He wants to partner with me in. It would be easy for me to say, “Oh, I wish all of these could happen one day” and to assume they’re far-fetched or silly and never think about them again. However, Jesus was in the equation, and I realized: I can actually hope in this and expect Him to use these dreams and passions He’s placed within me because He is faithful and nothing is too big or impossible with Him. I wrote down all of those things, and they’re kind of my bucket list with Jesus now. I can go back and look and see how He uses them and see how He’s faithful in them.
Biblical hope isn’t just wishful thinking. You see, the strength of worldly hope is based on the strength of human desire – how badly we want ___ to happen. Biblical hope, however, is rooted in the promises of God and a confident expectation of those to come to fruition. Which means: the strength of biblical hope is based on the strength of God’s unending, never failing faithfulness. Scripture says, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. ” (Hebrews 6:19). If we aren’t hoping in Jesus, we aren’t secure – we are able to be tossed about wondering what might happen next. However, when we hope, we are grounded in God and His faithfulness. We can recall His promises to mind and have hope. We can expect God to move and do good things. Jesus is hope itself! Therefore, when we hope, we aren’t tossing a wish into the abyss at 11:11 and forgetting we ever wished for it. We are casting our anchor in Jesus and saying, “Lord, I put my hope in you, and I expect You to move. So, until You come through and I see You show up, I’m not moving. I am anchored in You and Your promises.”
May we be filled this CHRISTmas with a renewed hope. Not just as we remember the hope of a coming Savior or as we await His return – may we hope daily in Christ. May we watch for Him in each moment of our lives and hope with open hands and open hearts.
Love in Christ,
Maeci
