Let’s face it, I don’t think anyone expected starting off this New Year, in this Pandemic, the same way the old one ended. This is definitely not what we were hoping for. Truth is, we love a New Year. Who doesn’t want to leave the past behind and start fresh with a new beginning?
Looking ahead and believing for something greater is definitely better than just reliving the past, even if it wasn’t all bad and it had some pretty amazing moments in there. But before we get too far, lets examine 3 types of Hope.
Let’s start with Wishful Hope. Most of us never get past this kind of hope. This is the kind of hope that can get you stuck for years. It’s the fingers-crossed kind of hope. The kind you knock on wood for. You know, the kind you wish for on birthday candles and shooting stars.
Then there’s Expectant Hope. The kind where you plan, work hard, put in long hours and expect things to work out, mainly because you did all that. Plus you’re a good person who loves animals, cares about the environment and composts. You expect it, because you deserve it.
Then there is Certain Hope, this is what the Bible talks about. This isn’t really hope the way we usually definite it. It’s more like certainty. It’s not that it might happen, it’s believing with faith, even when we can’t see it, that there is only one option and it’s that it will come to pass.
What this means is that Certain Hope links the past to your present and together using everything that we are and everything that we’ve been through, it helps create an amazing future. That’s why Hebrews 11:1 says “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.”
Certain Hope means that when we trust and love God, believe His promises, and love people, God gives us this assurance in Hebrews 6:11; “Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true.”
When we live the way God has made clear in the Sacred Scriptures, we can experience the overflowing power of Certain Hope. That’s what it says in Romans 15:3; “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
That is the amazing Certain Hope that God wants to give you in this New Year.