Renowned poet, Emily Dickinson, once penned:

“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.”

I believe hope is something that every person wants to have.  Hope for a better day.  Hope for a better job, a better life.  Hope that our children turn out to be good people.  But what is the difference between a Christian definition of hope and the way the world uses it?

The word “hope” in everyday English vocabulary is usually different from the idea of certainty. Typically when people use the word hope they mean, “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I hope it happens.”

Then again, when you read the word “hope” in the Bible (like in 1 Peter 1:13—”set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ”), hope is not wishful thinking. It is a certainty of things to come, a confidence that God keeps all of his promises.  Therefore, hope and faith overlap; hope is faith in the future tense. 

The Bible says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). That means hope, like faith, is also strengthened by the word of God. That is why we need to know God and His word.  Do you know it?  Have you heard it?   

Often we put our hope in things that fail us.  We hope our marriage lasts, but it doesn’t.  We hope our job lasts, but it doesn’t.  We hope our health lasts, but it doesn’t.  We think we can control those things, but when we cannot, and they fail us, we lose hope.  We trust in things that fail us.

But God has said, “not to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17).  True hope, the kind that does not fail, only comes from God.  God is always good and He keeps his promises. 

There is a story of an old sailor who looked at the skies and saw a dark storm coming. As the sea became rough and choppy, the old salt calmly lowered the heavy-chained anchor link by link, battened down the hatches and went to bed for the night.

He knew the storm would be rough. But he had faith in the grasp of the anchor. He knew his boat would be there in the morning.

As a follower of Christ, we too have an anchor called hope that helps us weather the storms of life. In fact, the Bible describes this hope “… as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19).

True hope is found in Jesus. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, or what you have done, God loves you and He wants you to know him.  God has a plan for your life, a plan, “not to harm you but to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). 

This Easter, if you have given up on hope, look to Jesus and the price he paid on the cross; paying the penalty for our sin and the things we have done, so that when we put our faith and hope in him we might have a right relationship with God once again, and receive a “living hope… that can never perish, spoil or fade” (1 Peter 1:3-4).  Jesus is where true hope is found.