Do Christians Really Need Hope?

I am looking forward to our next series on Hope. I found myself thinking about the concept since you announced the series about how hope fits into a Christian’s life. And then I came to the conclusion that there is no room for hope in a Christian’s life.

I am constantly surprised by the face that people who have presumably handed their lives over to God worry. About anything. I mean, isn’t He the only sure thing? If that is true, then all we truly need is faith. I think that worry and faith have an inversely proportional relationship in a person’s life. If you have true faith, why would you need worry? I think sometimes people hand their lives over and then try to take some of it back. It really is an all or nothing proposition, isn’t it? Any part that we are trying to take back is something we are keeping from God. Why is it that we constantly think we are better able to manage it than He is?

I can understand it on some level, I guess. I have a similar relationship with the GPS in my car. The course is set, I am following blindly, and all of a sudden I decide that the GPS is wrong and I am going to make that right hand turn early – only to find myself heading towards a dead end, all the while the GPS is screaming at me to make a legal U-turn. How many times does God yell at us to make a legal U-turn? In fact, He doesn’t stop yelling until we do.

To me, hope implies that there is a chance something will not happen. We don’t have to hope that He won’t leave us. We don’t have to hope that He will give us direction. We don’t have to hope that He has the course for our life set. We don’t have to hope that we will be taken care of. Once known he will give us direction. We know our needs will be met. I suppose the only true challenge we have is understanding the directions and then being willing to follow them blindly, even when we want to make that right turn.

So, I guess as faithful Christians, if we hope for anything it should be clarity. The rest is already taken care of.

Needless to say, I am anxious to learn more; to broaden my perspective of hope and where it fits into my life and those of others. I so appreciate the thought you put into the sermon series. It cannot be easy to reach the needs and wants of an entire congregation. I just wanted you to know that it matters to me. You really make a difference by encouraging thoughtful growth and I am very thankful to you.

Looking forward to Sunday!

Kelly Wight