I want to give you a shorthand way of remembering the difference between the hope in our Bibles and the hope out in the world. Hope ain’t hoping. Today, folks plan outside events and say, “I sure hope it doesn’t rain.” Every Sunday, some folks may show up here and say, “I sure hope PJ doesn’t have a long sermon.”😊 When I was growing up, I had some food allergies that kept me from getting chocolate in my Easter basket – I got carob instead. It is not the same thing! You better believe I hoped for a day when I could eat what everybody else was eating. All of this hoping is doubt about the outcome of something in the future.
Biblical hope is the opposite of doubt. Having hope is having assurance that what God has promised will surely come to pass. Hope ain’t hoping. Last week, I read from 1 Peter chapter 1 and we head about a “faith that is more precious than gold.” (v. 7) Where does that kind of faith come from? It comes from true hope described in that same chapter, 1 Peter 1:3-5 “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he gave us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 that is, into an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. It is reserved in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are protected through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”