When NASA posted a job opening
for a "Planetary Protection Officer," a position responsible for the
microbial footprint of humans during interplanetary exploration, word about the
"coolest job ever" spread widely in the media. The stringent requirements didn't stop 9 -year
old Jack Davis from submitting a handwritten note to NASA. Jack has big dreams and high hopess about his
future.
He wrote: "I may be nine but I think I would be
fit for the job." "One
of the reasons is my sister says I am an alien.
Also, I have seen almost all the space movies and alien movies I can see." "I am young, so I can learn to think
like an alien. Please consider me.” The Director of Planetary Science wrote back:
"We are always looking for bright future scientists and engineers to
help us, so I hope you will study hard and do well in school. We hope to see you here at NASA one of these
days."
What is hope? It is a mode of anticipating the future. We are expectant, optimistic. Our outlook is positive. We look for good things to happen or good
things to come. Of course there are also
other modes of anticipating the future, like worry, anxiety and fear. Without hope, I believe life loses all
meaning and joy.
Hope is both active and passive. Passive hope is like waiting for a package
from Amazon. There seems to be a lot of
that these days. Hope is active when we
are doing something, like planning and organizing, praying and working toward
some future goal.
Like the story of three store
owners who shared adjacent storefronts in the same building. As retailers, they had competed for years. Times were now tough. Sales were down. In hopes of picking up sales, the owner of
the shop at one end of the building put a sign over his front entrance – “YEAR-END
CLEARANCE!” At the other end of the
building, another owner responded with his own sign: “ANNUAL CLOSE-OUT.” The owner of the store in the middle knew he
had to act fast or lose his business. He
hung a huge lit sign over his front door: “MAIN ENTRANCE.” Hope is sometimes active.
Hope also has enemies. The greatest enemy is gloom, despair, discouragement. All we see in the future is a wall, a dead-end,
a black hole. We can’t see a way out. We can’t find another way. We feel trapped. We believe there is nothing left to hope for
or to work toward or even to live for. The
light of life burns out. Our zest and
enthusiasm vanishes.
What is the basis for hope? I believe there are basically two world-views,
two belief systems which are the ground of hope. The first is secularism. Secularism is pessimistic about God but
optimistic about humanity. The secular
basis of hope is not in the heavens but on earth. Its hope lies not in God which is a false
belief because God doesn’t exist, because God is a fantasy, but its hope lies
in humanity. Humans alone can save
themselves. There is no god to save us. We humans can save the world and preserve
the future. We can rely upon reason, science,
technology, and good will. We depend
upon human determination, imagination, curiosity, brain power, and vision.
Together humans can work to
create a just society, achieve world peace and save the environment. There will be disagreements, but humanity
will find solutions and transform the world.
We can save ourselves. We don’t
need a supernatural being. Why – because
we are on our own. That’s secularism.
The second basis for hope is
religion. Christianity is pessimistic
about humanity but optimistic about God.
The basis of our hope is God, who revealed himself to the world in Jesus
Christ. The ground of our hope is in the
birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
the Lord and Savior of the world. In
Scripture and faith hope literally means confident expectation.
Christianity is pessimistic about
humanity because of human sin and moral evil which emanates from sin. It is optimistic about God because God is the
creator and ruler of the world, because God is powerful, just, merciful, loving,
because God is leading the world toward its divine fulfillment. Our hope is based upon our faith that God
holds the future, that the future lies in God’s hands, that God is in control, that
the future is secure. Hope is a firm
assurance that that which is hidden, unknown, or confusing today will be
unveiled by God in the future. Our
Christian hope means that you and I can trust God to keep his promises.
To be more specific, the
Christian hope for the future is two-fold.
First, our hope is personal, individual.
It is hope with your name on it. Our
faith inspires hope today. By faith
God’s hope lives within us. The letter
of Romans says: “By God’s grace, through faith, we boast in the hope of
sharing the glory of God.” Character
produces hope and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been
poured into our hearts and we have the gift of the Holy Spirit within us, who
deepens our faith and hope.
We have Jesus’ promise to us
personally of eternal life, everlasting life, resurrection of the body. Jesus speaks about God’s house with many
rooms, and promises: “I have prepared a place for you and I will come back
to take you to myself, so that you will be where I am.” Jesus’ wonderful promise is that nothing, not
even death, can separate us from God’s love today and forever. Our Christian hope is of sharing in the glory
of God.
Second, our Christian hope is
universal. We find it in the biblical
concept of the Kingdom
of God kingdom of God
It speaks to God’s universal
purpose. God’s plan is not only to save
individuals but to save and transform the world into His kingdom. God’s ultimate purpose is both individual
salvation and world salvation.
The book of Revelation pictures
this beautifully: “See the home of God is among mortals. God will dwell with them as their God, they
will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, death
will be no more, mourning and crying and pain will cease.”
As Christians, as followers of
Jesus, we are to place our ultimate hope not in people, not politics, not
government, not riches, not in hedonism, not even in reason, but God whom we
know in Jesus Christ.
The question for the Advent
season is this: “Where have you
placed your ultimate hope - in man or in God?” Amen!
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