Where do you turn for hope? Maybe we should ask the question, what do we really mean by the word hope? What is hope? Webster’s dictionary defines hope as, “to cherish a desire with anticipation, to want something to happen, to trust.” But when hope is used in Scripture, it means so much more than this. In the Bible, hope is the confident expectation of what God has promised, and its strength is in His faithfulness.

We live in a world without hope. So many around you are living without any hope beyond today! So many endure daily feelings of emptiness, fear, and hopelessness.

Why is there such hopelessness in the world today? It is because men and women have either turned their backs on the promises of God or lost sight of them. For those who have faith in a Holy God, who sent His Son into the world not to condemn them but to save them, there is real hope! Faith in this loving God through His Son is the very foundation on which a life can be built. When we hope in God, we fix our eyes on His promises instead of our own circumstances. We base our hope on who our God is and what He has promised, “in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began” (Tit. 1:2). We base our hope on His Book of promises, the unchanging Word of God! We must lift our eyes above our circumstances, and beyond this present world, to see the hope of heaven, the hope of resurrection, the hope of being like Christ, not as that which might happen, but as guarantees from a loving God. As it is often said, “God says it, I believe it, and that settles it!”