HOPE

 You know when you were a little kid and you believed in fairy tales, that fantasy of what your life would be, white dress, prince charming who would carry you away to a castle on a hill. You would lie in bed at night and close your eyes and you had complete and utter faith. Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Prince Charming, they were so close, you could taste them, but eventually you grow up, one day you open your eyes and the fairy tale disappears. Most people turn to the things and people they can trust. But the thing is it’s hard to let go of that fairy tale entirely ‘cause almost everyone has that smallest bit of hope, of faith, that one day they will open their eyes and it will come true.

-Meredith Grey, Grey’s Anatomy

During the Christmas season, many things become the object of our hope. Things that we believe will improve our circumstances, give us completion, or change our reality... for the better. Regardless of our “young adult” age, I know we all still make our “Christmas wish list” (in our head at least) filled with things that we want, desire, and believe will make us happy. Is it bad that we make a list: no. Is it bad to put hope in our list: yes. Our list can distract us from the meaning of Christmas and of life: Jesus.

Hope is defined as: “a feeling of expectation and desire.” Hope is a wish, a dream, a longing; and the possibilities fill us with joy. Sadly, we are all guilty of putting our hope in the Christmas list (or our life “lists” for that matter).  Wherever hope is misplaced, disappointment soon follows. These things on our list have no certainty, no security, and no confidence.

Before Jesus was born, the Jewish people hoped for the Messiah—the One who would shoulder their sin and intercede with God on their behalf (Isa. 53:12). They expected the Messiah to arrive through a virgin who would bear a son in Bethlehem and would name Him Immanuel, “God with us” (7:14). The night Jesus was born, their hope was fulfilled (Luke 2:1-14).

Although we’re no longer waiting for Jesus, our Messiah, to be born, He is still the source of our hope. As Christians we know this, yet everyday I seem to put my hope in something else- Hope that I will get to do a certain thing, go to that certain place, buy some certain product, only to hope that it will make me feel or look a certain way, and so the story goes- day in and day out. In every season of my life, I hope for something always looking for the next thing. Whether it’s for a certain grade in a class, to graduate, to get a job, to get married, to have children, or to eventually retire and have grandchildren... like really? Is that the list most of us hope in? So predictable! Year after year people have done the same thing- and it all ends the same way. Disappointments and letdowns.

It’s true in any situation that when we place our hope in something other than Jesus (our family, our friends, our things and our self), they will always let us down. These things are things. They are futile and finite. It makes perfect sense for them not to deliver the sense of hope that we long for, yet it’s our human nature to consume our self with these wants and desires. (Explains why we spend a majority of our time on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.)

So y’all obviously know where I am going with this: Jesus is our only hope.

- He is a living hope (1 Peter 1:3).

- He will never fail us.

- He will always comfort us.

- He is faithful to us and will be there when the seasons, people and trends change.

- He is constant.

- He is the only hope in a hopeless world.

With Christmas just around the corner, it is so easy to get distracted by all the hustle & bustle, lose sight of the meaning of the Christmas, and the joy we all share: Jesus.

The gospel is a message of hope: God became man, entered this dark and desperate world, died in our place to pay for our sins, and defeated death, in order to give us HOPE.

If we have received the gift of Jesus, we have received life. Don’t live in bondage to the desires of this world. Receive a new portion of the Holy Spirit, remember your salvation, what he has brought you out of, your forgiveness, acceptance, fullness, righteousness, love and every other good gift under the sun that Our Father lavishes on His children.

Things are okay, but when we place our hope in them other than Christ, they battle for the seat of “ultimate” in our life and will leave us broken and empty every time. Let Christmas this year be different. Pray. God has the power to change the object of your desire (Psalm 37:4). Pray that you wouldn’t desire things on this earth, but of things above (Colossians 3:2).

What are you putting your hope in?

(A convicting question to ask yourself as you take inventory at the end of the day or to have your accountability partner ask you)

“Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation, and my God.”

-Psalm 12:12

Written by Austin Boatwright of Zeta Tau Alpha