More Than Wishful Thinking

More Than Wishful Thinking

What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see. –Hebrews 11:1

I recently received a direct-mail advertisement for a magazine called Hope, which of course intrigued me. On the inside, they offer a definition of hope from The Cambridge International Dictionary: “hope n. a desire for the future to be as good as you want it to be.” Is that what hope is?

Typically, when we say we “hope” for something, we’re saying we’re not sure it is going to happen but we want it to happen. We have no sense of confidence that it will come about. We say, “I hope I can lose five more pounds before picture-taking day.” “I hope the stock market will turn around so we will have enough money to retire comfortably.” “I hope this new treatment will relieve the pain.”

But biblical hope is not like that. Biblical hope is much more than wishful thinking. Hebrews 11:1 says that “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (NIV, emphasis added). There is nothing uncertain about biblical hope. It speaks of something that is sure but not yet a reality that we can see. Biblical hope is certain but not yet realized. We haven’t experienced it yet, but there is no question that it will happen. Hope is like a memory of the future—a God-secured, God-infused, God-glorifying future.

The hope that God provides for you and me as we face an uncertain and perhaps difficult future is not based on wishful thinking that the future will be as good as we want it to be. It is the confident assurance that we can entrust our lives to the One who holds the future no matter what happens. Are you willing to leave behind your wishful thinking and grab on to God-confident hope, believing that your eternal future will be much better than you can imagine?

Faith Giver, so often I settle for the uncertainty of seeking what I want when I want it, and I’m left disappointed. Show me what it means to place all my confidence in you. Fill me with the assurance that my greatest hopes and dreams are fulfilled in you, even when I can’t see it for myself.

DIGGING DEEPER