Hope for the Hopeless

Newspapers are full of bad news—economic uncertainties, persistent problems in Iraq, more strife and terrorism. Many Americans are pessimistic not only about our nation’s future, but their own as well. Friends are not faithful; marriages are not stable; streets are not safe. Financial struggles, job problems, health problems. Life is depressing for many people. Where does a person turn to find hope?

The only hope that has substance is found in the gospel. The gospel does not promise a charmed life filled with constant blessings, but it gives solid assurance that life is worth living, that problems are worth enduring, that the risks of life are worth taking. The gospel provides hope that there is more to life than what we can see—the invisible world is even more real than the world we see. Even the sun will eventually fade away, but spiritual realities will not.

Benefits now and forever

The gospel offers several priceless benefits right now in this life—freedom from guilt, assurance of being loved, guidance on how to live, even an understanding that we can’t rely on the things of this world. And the gospel is a dose of realism, not advertising hype. The gospel lets us in on the secret that happiness is not achieved by getting the most money, climbing the corporate ladder, or being the most popular.

Hungering for good relationships, many people live a constant charade, hoping no one ever finds out what they are really like. They are so afraid of losing friends that they never make any, because their fear of not being liked prevents anyone from knowing the “real” them.

The gospel does not guarantee us social skills and good friends (even Jesus’ friends let him down when he needed them most). But it does tell us that God loves us even when we fight against him; we can be sure that he loves us when we are trying to do right, too. There is no one too hopeless to receive the hope of Jesus Christ.

The gospel says that God sent Jesus to die even for the people who killed him. We can never do anything so bad that God will stop loving us. Even the best of friends in this world can let us down, but the gospel points us to an invisible but faithful friend, Jesus. The best in human friendships is only a foretaste of the eternal joy we will have with Jesus.

The gospel gives us hope in handling the problems of life, too. In Scripture, God gives us some amazingly practical advice on how to live. “A soft answer turns away wrath” is a remarkably effective strategy. It is a blessing, even in this life, to be humble, considerate, gracious, and grateful. The way of Jesus gives tremendous peace of mind; it is an effective antidote to anxiety, as much as we can put it into practice (sometimes we aren’t very good at it). But we have confidence in knowing that the Bible puts us on the right track.