…but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you… – I Peter 3:15
I find it interesting that Peter assumes that you will be so filled with hope that people will be asking you about it regularly enough to write this encouragement. When was the last time you were asked, “Why are you so hopeful?” Sadly, I don’t think that anyone has ever asked me that question. Maybe I should be more hopeful… that is, hopeful that the rest of you are perceived as more hopeful than I am. However, something tells me that for some reason, we as Christians don’t always portray the right kind of hopefulness, or maybe the “hope” that we portray is not what it is compelling to the world.
I have a feeling that this is because our temptation is to confuse true faith-filled hope with plain old optimism or wishful thinking. One of the problems is that we don’t have enough words to express the differences. In common English, we often use the word “hope” for everything from winning the lottery, to a desire for someone’s healing, to our strong conviction that the Lord of the Universe will return and set all things to rights. This word carries a huge range of meanings!
Without inventing a new word, I think we can boil down what separates the hope that Peter is talking about from everything else by understanding the object and the subject of hope. The object of hope is the one who benefits from the outcome of your hope. If the hope is only for me, then I would suggest that this is not a very compelling hope. No one is going to ask me about my hope for myself. This, people will assume, is just wishful thinking. However, if the object of my hope is other people and even the world, then this will be a much more compelling hope! That is the kind of hope that someone might ask you about, especially if it includes them. One of the reasons that people might be more intrigued by this kind of hope is because it is so much larger than a me-centered hope. And a hope that has an object larger than what I can comprehend, must have a subject that is even larger! The subject of hope is the one who is doing the action that will fulfill the hope. Once again, if the hope is in myself, in the randomness of the lottery, or even in the skillfulness of a doctor, then my hope is only as compelling as me, bad math, or another human doctor. However, if my hope is in the God of the Universe whose disposition toward all people is love, then that is a compelling hope!
I wonder if we need to examine our hope. Maybe it needs to be bigger than ourselves and our people… so big and for so many, that only God can achieve it. Maybe then, people might beg you to give them the reason for your hope.
Josh Rose
Family Pastor