This is a time of year that is filled with hope. You can see it especially in the eyes of little ones as they look with longing expectation at the gifts wrapped under the tree. “Did Mom and Dad get me what I asked for?” Their excitement grows to a fever pitch on Christmas Eve. They can’t stand it. It is difficult to sleep. Their hopes for what they will discover the next morning keep them tossing and turning all night. Then, long before the sun rises, they are ready for mom and dad to get up. Why are they staying in bed so long? Christmas morning is here! Sometimes their hopes are realized, and it is the pleasure of parents to see grateful joy in the eyes and feel it in the hugs of these little ones. Their hope has been realized. Now it is time to enjoy that for which they have been hoping.
Hope is powerful. That for which we hope controls our thinking and the way we live our lives. During Advent, we are reminded year by year of our hope as Christians. We are children whose Father has promised us gifts for the future. We don’t know exactly what all of these gifts will look like, but we know that our Father, who loves us infinitely more than any of us can love our own children, delights in giving what is good to us so that we can experience grateful joy together when our hope is realized.
But hope that is seen is not hope. If we are hoping, that means we don’t have what we hope for. Until Jesus returns and raises us from the dead, we are living in a perpetual Advent season; a time of anticipatory hope. This is our future for which we should long with eager expectation. It should control our thoughts, affect our emotions, and shape the way we live. Our Father has good things in store for us.
Because of our hope in Christ, we can be recklessly obedient with our lives. We can abandon ourselves to our Father’s will completely. He will not fail us. What he has promised he will give us. Our hope is certain. So, when he calls us to do things in which we must take some risks with our lives, it is okay. He has given us hope that he will give back whatever we give to him in full measure plus. If he, through the church, calls you into a special service, you can go even though you might lose some of your present comforts. If in his providence he puts you in a position to stand publicly against the rising tide of cultural evil in our society, you can put your livelihood and even your life at risk. If he has called you to take the risk of a relationship–a friendship, a marriage, becoming a parent–you can do that too.
Our hope frees us from the fear of losing everything; something that we must do when we begin to follow Jesus. The hope that we have in Christ Jesus informs us that when we lose everything in Christ, we will discover one day that we have everything. When you are freed from the fear of loss–especially the loss of your life in death–then you are free indeed. One day, when our hope is realized, all the seemingly interminable waiting, expectation, and risks will fade into memory as we and our Father delight in the gifts he gives on that resurrection morning.
