Living With Hope

Our Lord has commanded us, especially teachers of the word, to preach the word (2 Timothy 4:2). We all know the importance of speaking the truth without compromise and boldness, as preaching the truth caused many persecutions around the world for centuries. But recently, these things have become somewhat of a foreign concept as we all have started to sense and know our society is increasingly becoming resistant to the truth.

The need to be prepared for real persecution, even to the extent of being arrested for the sake of the gospel, is becoming more apparent day by day. However, no matter what happens, we must remain faithful to our Lord. We must choose what is right before the Lord because obedience to the Lord is the by-product of true salvation. True believers are not only chosen by God but are created new to obey Him (1 Peter 1:2). Peter knew that churches in Asia Minor were under persecution. He, therefore, sent a letter to encourage them so that their faith wouldn’t waiver and they would continue to be faithful (1Peter 3:14). He wanted them to focus on the hope they have in the Lord (1Peter 1:3-5, 3:15). It is not the faint and conditional hope that the world offers but God’s living, unfading hope.

Peter explained that one of the greatest Christian hopes is salvation (1 Peter 1:5; 2 Peter 3:13). We who were justified by the grace of God transform daily to become more like him, and eventually, our salvation will be completed when we receive a glorified body.

When salvation is complete, then our struggle with sin is finally over. We, with a new body, live eternally with our Lord. Until then, Peter said they were “aliens and strangers” (1 Peter 2:11). This phrase reminded them that this earthly life was temporal; thus, their persecution was not endless. And one day, they would be free from every pain, receive a glorified body, and be rewarded for their faithfulness (1 Peter 1:13; 4:12-13). Peter encouraged believers to focus not on the things happening around them but on the eternal blessing the Lord promised to each one of them in heaven. He said about our future blessing, “…to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.” (1Peter 1:4). What a hope they have, and it’s on this that Peter wanted them to focus. Peter was helping them to see the present situation from God’s perspective. We need to learn this lesson as well.

Yes, persecution is inevitable (1 Peter 4:12; Matthew 5:10,11; John 15:20; 2 Timothy 3:12). Yet, we should never forget that our sovereign Lord controls all things - even persecution. He uses it for our benefit, spiritual growth (1 Peter 1:6-7, 5:10). Paul and his co-workers testified that they had learned to trust in God alone, not in themselves, through life-threatening persecution (2 Corinthians 1:8-9). Paul also testified that his experience taught him to put his hope in God alone (2 Corinthians 1:10). Most of us frequently recite Romans 8:28, but we must ask, do we believe it? Many of us do and testify that we learned to believe this truth through difficult life situations because trusting him was the only option. Listen to Paul’s testimony: “…We had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope” (2 Corinthians 1:9,10). We should never forget that trusting God and his word is the key to living with hope.

I believe that ancient readers once again revived their hope after reading Peter’s letter, which stimulated them to be faithful. We know hope is vital for every Christian because it energizes us to be obedient. I wonder how many Christians are living with hope? Peter said in 1 Peter 3:15, “… always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.” Because living with hope is a critical way to evangelize the world.

We have witnessed that this world is full of people without hope during this time of the pandemic.  Even my own country has drastically increased its suicide rate during this time. Japan Times highlighted this fact stating that “The coronavirus pandemic led to 8,000 more suicides in Japan between March 2020 and June 2022 than would have been expected without it” (https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/08/17/national/social-issues/pandemic-suicides-increase/)I believe this pandemic was the Lord-given opportunity for evangelism because he has allowed it to happen. People have begun realizing that the hope they thought they had was not real because it faded away. We need to tell them there is a hope which never fades away. And you know what, we must show them daily that we have that hope.

Christians, we always need to focus our eyes on our eternal hope. Let us keep trusting our Lord and his word alone because our hope will soon be the reality.