February 9, 2022 | Miami, Florida, United States | By Melchor Ferreyra, Inter-American Division
In life, every one of us must go through various trials. It is at these times that we realize that what we lack most is hope. We usually try to solve our problems as soon as possible, and in our rush and desire to getting everything solved, we make hasty decisions, which are not always the best.
On the contrary, when we face trials, those that can only be solved through faith, we should clothe ourselves with the patience that produces hope, waiting, trusting that a solution will come, not in our time but in God’s. (Hebrews 11:1, Colossians 1:5). God’s time can be translated as hope because it is something that transcends an isolated solution, but rather requires a process.
In the New Testament and especially for the Apostle Paul, the notion of hope is not connected to an isolated, random virtue; it is a process, a key and binding element to faith and love. In the Gospel message, it is a whole construct. This means that hope is a process. The resurrected Jesus giving Himself to us by His Spirit, enables us to patiently overcome any resistance to unconditional love between us within the Christian community, and assures us of eternal life with him.
In Romans 5:3-5, Paul writes, “we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Here, hope, far from being a stand-alone virtue, appears as resulting from patience. It is founded in the love God has bestowed on the believer. In this scheme of things, suffering becomes a key element in this gradual process that results in hope. Ultimately, hope is not just a notion or definition. For Paul, hope is a Person: Jesus is hope (1 Thessalonians 1:3). Hope is produced by the Gospel as a saving action on behalf of a person. Thus, hope has a practical and binding role within the Gospel, together with faith activated by love. (Romans 5: 3-5 1 Corinthians 13:13).
For those who do not know Jesus, hope is a virtue that allows them to hold themselves together and pull through on their own strength. However, when our human strength fails—for instance, when a person is terminally ill or knows he or she is about to die—what is left? The Bible says it clearly: Without Jesus we live without hope.
On the other hand, if you are a child of God, you have a hope that is secure. You can feel encouraged on the day of your sorrow. Amid disease or persecution, you can have the assurance that God is in control.
The hope we have in Christ is for the present and the future. It is a firm and trustworthy anchor because it is based on God, whose promises are eternal.
Both the Old and the New Testaments state that the foundation of hope was always the believers’ certainty in the faithfulness of God towards the promises He made to His children through the promise-hope process.
Thus, hope is not an isolated virtue but an element that is part of a whole, which is specifically God’s righteousness (Galatians 5:5). It has been ultimately revealed in the Gospel (Romans 1:17). It is a process that results from tribulations, trials, faith, and patience (Romans 5:3-5), and one that leads to total trust in the saving power of the Gospel, having Jesus Himself as the center of this salvation.
Jesus is our hope.
Melchor Ferreyra is the Personal Ministries director of the Inter-American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
Translation by Marcos Paseggi