Looking for Hope in a Hopeless WorldShembull

# The Power of Real Hope Unlike false hope, real hope is solid. It has a foundation that is fixed and does not shift or collapse. Real hope is powerful because it has the ability to sustain people now, while they await the realization of their hopes. False hopes are shifting and uncertain. Those who build their hope upon the things of this world are destined to have them shattered because nothing in this world will last. Governments come and go. Power brokers change and money does not last. Investments change on a daily basis, especially those that are based on market movements. There is no hope in this world because the ways of the world are not based upon permanence. And this is the will of God. Scripture tells us that God has subjected this world to futility, and Solomon wrote that “All is vanity, and a striving after wind.” So, where will we find permanence? Where will we find stability and real hope? In God and in Jesus Christ, because God is the God of hope and there is salvation only in the name of Jesus Christ. But in order to receive the hope of salvation, we must have faith. Faith and hope work together, feeding into each other and vice versa. They also link into love, as we are told in 1 Corinthians 13:13. Faith, hope, and love abide, which means they all work together with each other and enhance one another. The scripture tells us that love is the greatest of these three, but without the other two, it cannot be received or achieved. In the next session, we will look at how faith, hope, and love combine with one another to strengthen us as Christians. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to transform us into the image of Jesus Christ, and the abiding work of faith, hope, and love are critical to that work. This is the power of real hope. A hope that is based upon the truth of Jesus Christ and the work of the Father in Him. It is by and through grace that we have the hope of salvation. The hope of salvation in Jesus Christ sets us free from sin, sets us free from the law, sets us free from condemnation, and sets us free from the passions of the flesh when the Holy Spirit is working in us. Certainly, something worth hoping for. So, let us look at the working of faith, hope, and love to see how these work together and abide so that we are transformed.