As Christ-followers, we have everything to hope for in this life and the next. However, we don’t always live with this hope in mind. John Eldredge makes a case for the power of hope in our lives.
“Hope is so powerful. I really think we’ve diminished how beautiful it is. Of course, 1 Corinthians 13:13 says, ‘these three remain, faith, hope, and love.’ So hope is one of the three greatest forces of human experience. By naming them here, God is explaining how important they are.”
John says there is plenty of secular research that corroborates the Bible’s assertion that hope is vital to human existence.
“Research shows that cancer patients who have hope have higher rates of recovery, and lower rates of re-occurrence. In fact, hope is so powerful in the brain that it actually releases endorphin’s that helps to minimize your physical pain to the point that it’s like morphine. We are literally made for hope. We thrive on it.”
How does hope work? John gives a real-world example to illustrate.
“If you knew that in three years you were going to inherit 30 million dollars, you would live differently today. You would be okay when your car broke down, it just wouldn’t be a big deal. If you knew that this incredible inheritance was just a few years away, you would be filled with hope right now.”
John also says hope can have a massive impact on how we love others in this life.
“It’s so much easier to forgive people when you’re filled with hope. It’s so much easier to be kind. It’s when people lose hope that they give up on a marriage. It’s when people lose hope that they give up on their calling. It’s when people lose hope that they give up on mission and sharing Christ with the lost. It’s the hopeless whose lives swiftly spiral down.
John describes hope as the anchor of our souls. The question is, do you have it?
John Eldredge is an author, a counselor, and teacher. He is also president of Ransomed Heart, a ministry devoted to helping people discover the heart of God, recover their own heart in his love, and learn to live in his Kingdom. John grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles (which he hated), and spent his boyhood summers on his grandfather’s cattle ranch in eastern Oregon.
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Featured Songs: It is Well – Bethel Music; There is a Cloud – Elevation; Lion and the Lamb – Leeland
God's restoration of everything you love with John Eldredge
