PERSPECTIVE HOPE
Romans 15:13 (NKJV)
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
True hope finds its grounding in the long game. While hope that looks to immediate circumstances is easily discouraged, hope that looks at the bigger picture is less likely to waver when challenged. Our perspective makes all the difference. The Stockdale Paradox illustrates this. When asked how he was able to survive, Admiral James Stockdale, a POW in the Vietnam War, responded, “I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.” When asked who didn't make it, Stockdale said, “The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart….” (Taken from InnovationCompass, LLC. quoting from the book Good to Great by Jim Collins)
Natural hope, or optimism, is more wishful thinking than future certainty. While being optimistic is normally a positive trait to possess, it is no substitute for Godly hope, and it is certain to betray, for simply being a positive thinker is neither hopeful nor helpful. Immediate circumstances may be devastating, and may remain so for a long while, but hope sees the bigger picture and embraces the absolute certainty of a better day, but according to scripture this kind of hope is a byproduct of other things. We can’t experience it fully until we have character, we don’t get character until we have persevered difficulties, and we can’t persevere until we face suffering of some kind. The result is a hope that delivers and does not disappoint. Why? Because it is a spiritual hope, supernatural, rooted in the love God has poured into us by His Holy Spirit (See Rom 5:3-5).
The ultimate hope for those who believe and follow Christ is that He will return to planet earth, destined to right all wrongs, bringing full and final salvation to His people (Heb 9:28). With that hope in place we are freed from the paralyzing fear and uncertainty of our immediate circumstances and able to proactively work in advancing the Divine agenda. Consider the benefit we get 2,000 years after the Apostle Paul, gripped in the clutches of Roman judicial abuse, imprisoned yet writing with Divine inspiration, suffering yet abounding in Godly hope, threatened yet relentlessly advancing the Divine agenda (see Acts 28, Eph, Col, Phil, Phm). This hope is possible for us - right here, right now. We need only be filled with God’s perspective through the power of the Holy Spirit.
