Hope or False Hope

I heard a comment this week that has really made me rethink the concept of
hope. We may not stop and think about it, but much of our motivation for
living is based upon hope. We hope things will be better in our lives, we
hope that our health will improve, we hope that there is a job for us, we
hope for better things for our children, we hope to be able to eventually
retire from work and the list could go on and on. That's what motivates us
to keep going every day isn't it? Without hope what (or where) is our reason
for living, struggling with problems or fighting for our future?

The comment I heard was from a man who had hoped something would turn out a
certain way in his life. When it didn't appear that it would go as he had
hoped he said, 'I guess it was just false hope." To which someone else
replied, there is no such thing as 'false hope, there is only hope.' I've
spent some time thinking about that comment and have determined that is a
wonderful insight!

Granted there are many times the things for which we hope don't turn out as
we had imagined they might, but that does not lessen the power of the hope
we had! The problem is that many of the things for which we hope are based
upon things in this material world.

Yes, it is necessary to have material things to live. Food, clothing and a
place to live are fairly important to anyone, but what else is really
necessary? Well, that discussion could go on for a long time, but the point
I'm trying to make is: are the things you hope for really going to make you
happy or give a lasting sense of fulfillment or security?

One of my favorite songs is by Scott Wesley Brown. It gives a sad reminder
of building our lives on the hope of things. The name of the song is
"Things".

'For discarded in the junkyards
Rusting in the rain
Lie things that took the finest years
of lifetimes to obtain
And whistling through these tombstones
the hollow breezes sing
a song of dreams surrendered to
the tyranny... of...Things...'

An appropriate counter note to this song is the old hymn (another of my
favorites):

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
Chorus:
On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand; all
other ground is sinking sand.

Paul wrote these words in Ephesians 2:12-13, "remember that at that time you
were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and
foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in
the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been
brought near through the blood of Christ."

In what do you hope, that which is temporary or that which is lasting?

Russ Lawson