What Hope Isn't. What Hope Is.

After an introduction last week on hope, and why I'm taking a deeper look at the biblical perspective for enlarging my understanding, it's apparent that a glance at hope's definition is an essential starting point. If I'm going to be a hope-restorer, then I best lay a foundation, and know how to build hope-in-me (because God wants to fill us up with overflowing joy, peace, and HOPE)!!!

Hope.

What it isn't:

...Wishful thinking.
...Optimism.
...Warm-fuzzy-feelings.
...A strategy.
...A positive notion.
...Empty tunnel-visioned enthusiasm.
...A utopian desire.
...Fragile.
...Stupid.

(...I would add the word "just" in here...Hope is not just a good plan...)

Does any of this surprise you?

Hope is a whole lot more.
Hope is essential in the darkest of days.
Hope is the thread we cling to when everything else is stripped away.
Hope is active, living, and NECESSARY to our Christian life.
Hope isn't just a noun, it has all the ingredients of a verb.
Hope is oxygen we cannot live without.

Hope is POWERFUL.

Someone (I wish I could give credit, but I failed to write the name down, if I even knew it at all) defined hope this way, "Hope is the place where transcendence meets reason and caution meets passion." That's OK, but it's not workable or practical.

There are many Hebrew and Greek words all translated "hope."

In each one, I discovered two common elements:

Waiting. 

Of course, hope would involve waiting. Hope is the ability to wait for an outcome that is different than what is being experienced in the now. If there's one thing that I struggle with in my fast-food-immediately-gratifying-world, it is this word: wait. I doubt I'm alone. I despise waiting rooms. I hate being put off. Yet, hope almost always means that the thing for which we hope is a "not yet." As a result, hope has to include patience.

Expectation.

If there is one characteristic upon which hope hangs its hat, it is a deep-seated-conviction, or belief.
There can not be hope without faith. 
There can not be faith without hope.
The two are conjoined twins.
Hope recognizes that all my skill, talent, abilities will not get me where I want to be...
...BUT...
...Hope reminds me that there is a SOMEONE who is bigger, who is ultimately in charge, and all my eggs are in that one FAITHFUL BASKET. That SOMEONE is the Lord; and, His plans for me will not be thwarted.
As a result, truly hopeful people are faith-filled people. 
As a result, faith-filled people are people of the WORD (Romans 10:17).

Need hope?
Fall in love with the God of the Word and place your trust in Him.

Then, when hope is deferred, it will not make one's heart sick, but, instead, shore up an expected outcome that will not lead to that dark, depressing journey, that begins with discouragement.

Waiting on the Lord will never disappoint.

 Hope is waiting with confident  expectation. 
Now, this is a useful definition!