The World has an idea of hope that sees it as an optimistic expectation that something good may happen in this life or, for the life to come.
People cannot help but hope; it is a part of our DNA as humans. We hope for good health, a good marriage, good weather, or an enjoyable holiday. Many even hope for a better life after the life they have lived on earth, which explains why so many claim that loved ones (including animals) are smiling down upon them after their death. Much of the hope that is found in the world lacks promise and certainty, which is like building a house on sand.
For true believers in God hope is very different from worldly Hope. Their hope is a Spirit-given virtue enabling them to joyfully espect what God has promised through Jesus. It is therefore, thoroughly Trinitarian.
Height Of Our Hope
The believers hope looks to God because He is “the God of hope” (Romans 15:13). Because the resurrection of Jesus, Peter says that our “faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:21). The degree to which we find God desirable and excellent will be same to which hope plays a role of our lives. Our view of God will affect the hope we possess.
A small got begets a small hope; but knowing God and Christ Jesus (John 17:3), which is eternal life, is ground for possessing a hope that bursts forth in our souls on a daily basis. The psalmist describes for the blessed person as the one (whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God” (Psalm 146:5).
Thomas Aquinas a Italian priest said:
Wherefore the good which we ought to hope for from God properly and chiefly is the infinite good, which is proportionate to the power of our divine helper, since it belongs to an infinite power to lead anyone to an infinite good. Such a good is eternal life, high consists in the enjoyment of God Himself. For we should hope from Him nothing less than Himself, since His goodness, whereby He imparts good things to His creature, is no less than His essence. Therefore the proper and principle object of hope is eternal happiness.
Thomas Aquinas
In short, Aquinas is saying that our joy is connected to our hope, which is connected to our Savior, which is connected to our God. A believers hope exists only when we hope in God and Father of our Lord Christ Jesus ( 1 Peter 1:13). The height of our hope is God Himself.
Certain As God’s Promises
Certain conditions characterize biblical Hope: it must be good, it must be in the future, it involves some degree of difficulty. For example, patient suffering, and it must be founded on God’s promises. Those who persevere, “by faith, shall attain what we hope for; the sight of our Savior (Titus 2:13).
This hope of the blessed vision of Christ Jesus is based not only upon the fact that we know He will return, but also on the knowledge that God dwells in us. This explains Paul’s language in Romans 15:13, “May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
Faith, Hope, And Love
Faith in God through Christ Jesus by the Spirit gives rise to the believers hope. Faith and hope bear an intimate relation to one another ( Romans 4:18-21; 5:2; 15;13; Galatians 5:5; Ephesians 1:18-19; Colossians 1:23; Timothy 4:10; Hebrews 11:1; 1 Peter 1:21). Faith is the foundation of Hope, so that hope without faith is no hope at all. We believe God in order to hope at all in what we believe. But Faith also returns to hope to give it courage to persevere. If faith apprehends God’s promises, hope expects what He promises. In times of trouble, despair, and suffering, faith and hope feed on God and His promises.
The difference between faith and hope is not easy to discern. Simply put, faith believes, but hope waits patiently, yet there is an aspect whereby faith also requires patience. God is the object of hope, as it specifically focuses on His goodness to us in Christ Jesus. Faith not only looks to God but also trembles at His threatenings (when appropriate). Hope remains free of such fear. Faith and love can relate to present and future object, but Hope looks to the future alone.
Also, faith and hope bear an intimate relation to love. If hope relates to your faith in the terms of our expectations, hope relates to love in terms of our desire, so the more we desire, the good, the more we will love it. Equally hope requires desire. The more we desire, what is promised, the more we hope for it. Since faith is focused on Christ, Jesus, hope will always be present where there is true faith. And since faith focuses on Christ, Jesus, love will always accompany faith and hope because God and Christ are the object of faith and hope – how can we not love the one we believe has saved us, and promised us so much for the future? Faith and hope, and love gives expression to our Christian life ( 1 Corinthians 13:13; Colossians 1:4).
Hope That Purifies
The life of hope yields many benefits to the true believer, such as the expectation of eternal life ( Titus 1:2; 3;7), salvation Thessalonians 5:8)., heaven (Colossians 1:5), the resurrection (Acts 23:6), the gospel (Colossians 1:23), God’s calling (Ephesians 1:18; 4:4), and our inheritance (Ephesians 1:18). But there is also a duty bound up with hope namely, purification of our souls. “ Everyone who thus hope in Him purifies himself as he is pure” ( 1 John 3:3).
This command follows one of the greatest promises of Christian hope: “ Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). Those who have the hope of being made like Christ in body and soul must also have the present desire to be pure. While in sanctification, that accent is often on what God does, here in 1 John the accent is on what we do. If they embrace a hope of seeing Christ face to face, are to purify themselves.
In other words hope has a moral effect. The pursuit of purity arise out of our possession of hope.
This hope is unlike the world’s. The world’s hope is often vague, uncertain, a wish that is thrust up at the stars. But Christian hope is solid, certain, future, and cleansing. It lasts as long as the eternal God lives, and stands as tall as He stands. He is our hope, for apart from Him, no such thing exists (Ephesians 2:13).
From Pity to Praise 