You could summarize the Christian faith as hope in the promises of God given to us through Jesus Christ. Hope is one of the great themes in Holy Scripture.
There are signs in our society that many people are searching deeply for hope.
It has been said that we are living in the ‘Age of Anxiety’. More of us are experiencing heightened levels of anxiety and depression caused by life’s events or circumstance, fear of failure, disappointments, feeling out of control, economic factors, natural disasters, terrorism and so on.
Hope is not just the expectation that things will get better in the future; it is about drawing us out of ourselves and into the possibilities offered to us in Christ. St Paul says: “in [Jesus] the Gentiles will hope.” And so whatever our fears, our disappointments, our discouragements and even our despairs, we can put all our trust in and cast all our cares, fears and worries on Jesus because he is totally and unconditionally for us – loving us in compassion for our sufferings and anxieties. He knows us better than we know ourselves and he has given us his Holy Spirit. We have hope because of the Holy Spirit.
There is no better antidote to despair and hopelessness than the Holy Spirit. So today ask God for the blessing of the Holy Spirit.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Roman 15:13)
