For the Christian hope is not based on wishful thinking but in the ironclad certainty that Jesus is watching over all of His children and is working out every circumstance for good. In addition, the Christian has absolute certainty that when they die they will spend eternity in heaven because of what Jesus promised in the Word of God – the Bible.
I like how Pastor Adrian Rogers describes biblical hope: “Scriptural hope is not wishful thinking. It’s rock-solid assurance!”1 And Pastor Rick Warren defines real hope as follows: “Our hope is a certainty based on the truths that God is in complete control of our universe and that He loves us.”2
And when your hope is based on Jesus and what He did at Calvary, we can place our trust on the only one in this universe that is perfectly trustworthy – Jesus! For you see knowing Jesus takes hope to a whole new dimension. According to the world’s definition, hope is a desire for something to happen or be true. But when it comes to knowing your eternal destiny worldly hope is not enough. The reason why the Christian worldview is so appealing is that wishful thinking, or worldly hope, is replaced with biblical hope – the absolute certainty that when we die we will spend eternity with Jesus.
I don’t know about you but to base my life and my eternal destiny on anything short of absolute certainty is risky business. But praise God we have the most amazing, influential, intellectually appealing, and transformational book ever written to base our hope on – the Bible. I don’t just hope the Bible is true – I know the Bible is absolute truth in every area. Thus, knowing this takes my hope to a whole new level, giving me the certainty I need to totally cast my lot with Jesus. Our eternal destiny is too important a thing to base on worldly hope. Thankfully, after reading and studying the Bible for over 43 years, I don’t just hope it is true I know it is true in every area!
May I leave you with this beautiful quote by R.C. Sproul to encourage you in your walk with Jesus: “Hope is called the anchor of the soul (Hebrews 6:19), because it gives stability to the Christian life. But hope is not simply a ‘wish’ (I wish that such-and-such would take place); rather, it is that which latches on to the certainty of the promises of the future that God has made.”3
1 Top 50 ADRIAN ROGERS quotes and sayings
2 Rick Warren quote: Our hope is a certainty based on the truths that…