Hope can be a hard thing to find these days. The world can seem to be a dark place and we often find ourselves wondering where we can find relief from all the troubles we face. We search for things to hope for in order to satisfy us. 

Looking for something to put our hope in can be exhausting. We jump from one shallow thing to another, desperately wanting it to satisfy us in some way. We look to people, entertainment, drugs, food, money, etc. But instead, these things eventually leave us more empty and hungry than we were before. Even worse, these things push us away from what should truly put our hope in. 

When the storms come, when the fears set in, when we are tired to the bone, what do we have left to hope in? What can we look to that will leave us satisfied?

We often hope in the things of the world because it seems like the easiest fix. But it actually takes more work than we think. We have to search, we have to fight, we have to work for every temporary fix. And then we are left with nothing when they fade, except more frustration, exhaustion, and hopelessness. We are left wandering, floating in search of the next thing to satisfy us.

But the Bible tells us that hope in Christ never fails us. Hoping in Jesus leaves us stronger, comforted, and satisfied. Why? Because it is not temporary. It is the only thing we can hope in that is everlasting.

“…we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.  We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”      Hebrews 6:18-20

Hebrews tells us that we have a sure hope set before us and it is a steadfast anchor of the soul. What an encouraging picture that paints! A hope that can finally weigh down our troubled and wandering souls. A hope that gives us rest and peace in a world of chaos and destruction. A hope that can only be found in Jesus Christ. 

And what exactly is this hope that we can find in Jesus? He died and was raised to life on our behalf. In him, we know that we have peace. He pours out his love to us, the love that was proven on the cross. And we find our hope in his promises, that we may have eternal and abundant life in him.

 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;  perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”      Romans 5:1-5

 

Have you been found hopeless? Are you exhausted from wandering and searching for something to put your hope in? Something that will not fail? Hope in Jesus. He does not keep us searching for him. He is not something to work for. He hands us our hope freely and easily and with everything he has promised it to be.

 

The hymn, In Christ Alone, perfectly exemplifies our hope in Christ and what it leaves us,

In Christ alone my hope is found;

He is my light, my strength, my song;

This cornerstone, this solid ground,

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My comforter, my all in all—

Here in the love of Christ I stand.