Most words have a range of meanings. They can express very different meanings when used in different ways. Take, for example, the word trunk. This simple word can refer to the body of a tree, the rear compartment of a car, the large cedar chest at the foot of your grandmother’s bed, or the nose of an elephant. Quite an amazing little word.
The word hope works much the same way. It can convey various meanings. But people most often use the word hope to express varying levels of uncertainty. People say that they hope it doesn’t rain, or they hope things work out. When the word is used in this way, the person using it is uncertain if the thing they hope for will become a reality. They may have a great desire that the thing hoped for materializes, but it looks doubtful.
The word hope can also communicate an attitude of optimism. When a person is hopeful about a situation, they carry expectations about it becoming a reality. Their expectations may not be realistic, but still, they are hopeful. The Bible uses the word hope in this optimistic sense, yet it usually relates a slightly different idea. The Bible uses the word hope to express a confident expectation about the future. However, this definition does not fully exhaust the biblical idea of hope. Hope is an attitude. It is an attitude of joy and optimism even in the face of difficult circumstances. How do people extrapolate hope from hard times? What mechanism is used to bring certainty out of uncertainty? We find the answer to these questions in a single verse in the book of Romans.
The Source of Hope
In Romans 15:13, we read, “Now, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, in order that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” The first thing we see in this powerful promise is the source of hope. The source (where it comes from) is God. When we say that God is the source of hope, we mean that hope comes from God through Jesus Christ. If we think about God without Jesus Christ, we really don’t have any basis for hope. Only by who Jesus is and what he has done for us can we have true hope. Jesus is the mediator between humans and God. He is the substitute who takes our punishment for sin so that we may stand in a right relationship with God. By faith in Jesus, we are able to have great hope. No matter what happens, we know God is for us, and we will live eternally with him. God is an inexhaustible réservoir of hope.
The Display of Hope
The second thing we notice in Romans 15:13 is the display of hope. We see what it looks like. The evidence that hope is in a person’s heart is genuine joy and peace. Joy and peace exude from every pore of a hopeful heart. Joyful people are hopeful people. Hopeful people are joyful people. Putting your hope in Jesus Christ connects you to his joy and his peace. The world suffers from a lack of joy and peace because it suffers from a lack of hope.
Many people live with hopelessness every day. Hopelessness is an intolerable existence. Hopelessness drains every ounce of joy and life from the human spirit and leaves a heavy weight of despair. While this is true, hope does not vacate the human heart easily. Some set of devastating circumstances must crush hope under its force when this happens; the road back to hope is a difficult journey. Without hope, it is hard to keep moving forward. That is why we need to know the path of hope.
The Path of Hope
The third thing we discover about hope from Romans 15:13 is the path of hope. Hope is a wonderful thing that everybody wants. How do you get it? The path to hope is faith. Without faith in Jesus Christ, there is no way to latch on to a deeper level of hope we need and want. Many people who do not have faith in Jesus are hopeful people, but their hope is built on a thin layer of optimistic desire that can be broken. Rock solid hope comes through faith in Jesus Christ. If we put our faith in him, it will hold.
This faith that leads to hope has two dimensions. On the one side is believing that Jesus really is who the Bible says he is. He is the Son of God, our Lord and Savior, the lover of our souls. Believing that is true produces hope. The other side of faith-building hope is trust. We trust that God is good, and he will do all he promises in his word. When life gets chaotic, we trust the powerful hand of God and find hope. Even when hopelessness grips our hearts, we can feel the return of hope as we trust in the one who loved us and gave himself for us.
The Power of Hope
The last thing we see concerning hope from Romans 15:13 is the power of hope. What is the power source of hope? Everything must have a power source. Computers need electricity; humans need food, Christians need the Holy Spirit. God gives us the Holy Spirit to empower us with hope. The Holy Spirit is the empowering presence of God in our lives. When hope seems elusive, we can turn to God in faith for the power of the Holy Spirit.
The power of the Holy Spirit is a synergistic work, meaning it takes more than the work of God; we have our part also. Our part in the power of the Holy Spirit is twofold. The first is dependence. We must actively choose to depend on the Holy Spirit to give us hope. The second part of our work in the power of the Holy Spirit is devotion. We must maintain and increase our devotion to Jesus Christ. As we become more devoted to Jesus, the power of the Holy Spirit becomes greater in our lives. The greater the power of the Holy Spirit we experience, the deeper is hope in our hearts.
We all face uncertainties that have the real potential to rob us of our hope. When this happens, we must hope in God through Jesus Christ by trusting in him so that joy and peace fill our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can also be the means of hope in another person’s life. The hope God has given us can overflow into the life of one desperately struggling to grasp it. Maybe in the past, God has carried hope to you from another hopeful person. Now, it’s time to pass it on.