Charles Colson once remarked: “Where is the hope? I meet millions who tell me that they feel demoralized by the decay around us. Where is the hope? The hope that each of us have is not in who governs us, or what laws are passed, or what great things that we do as a nation. Our hope is in the power of God working through the hearts of people, and that’s where our hope is in this country; that’s where our hope is in life.”1
My friends better leaders are great, better laws are important, and better citizens are good, but none of these things can bring about true hope for the now and for the future. For you see only having and engaging in the correct worldview can bring about a truly satisfying life and a rock solid hope for the future. Let’s look at three different worldviews and see what hope they can generate.
An evolutionary based worldview
This worldview says that we are basically accidents of nature, here by a process of natural selection and survival of the fittest, and if we are fortunate live for 80 to 90 years before returning to dust and ashes. According to this worldview rather than being created in the image of God we are the product of chance, with our ultimate destiny being a fast approaching date with the grave – never to be heard from again. This worldview is truly morbid and totally devoid of any hope for the future.
A religion based worldview
This worldview creates a false god that its followers worship and a bunch of man-made rules that if obeyed will somehow find favor with their deity. Since these gods are basically a creation of man’s imagination, with no historical backing, faith in these religious deities may add a sense of false comfort but in the end fail to deliver any real hope for a bright future. And the reason is simple. All religions are basically man’s attempts to design a god to worship, but since a false god has no real power to transform a person’s life or give one real hope, they fail to deliver any true sense of peace, joy, meaning and hope.
A Christian based worldview
The Christian based worldview is totally different from the evolutionary and religious worldviews in that it satisfies mankind’s deepest longing of the soul in the following four ways. First, it allows us to understand how desperately lost we are as inhabitants of a totally broken and sinful world. Second, the Christian worldview helps us to understand that we are sinners that need a Savior to restore us into relationship with the God of the universe. Third, once we accept the one true God, Jesus, into our hearts we become transformed by the power of God into new creations. And fourth, as children of God, we are given new spiritual eyes to understand the only direct revelation of God, the Bible. As believers in Jesus, we have peace with God, joy though our journey through life, a transformed heart to live a victorious life, and an iron-clad guarantee that when we die we will spend eternity in the presence of our Lord and Savior – Jesus Christ.
Only the Christian worldview addresses the fundamental reason why mankind, outside of Jesus, has no chance of ever finding hope. Non-Christian worldviews fail miserably in providing hope to their adherents because they are all based on man-made faulty beliefs. Only when we realize that we are sinners in need of a Savior can we then take the step of faith to enter into a living relationship with Jesus and find true hope for this life and eternity – and that my friends is what real hope is all about!