rumitoid

I have never understood the need for hope. It is a desired fabricated future generated by some need for life to be different tomorrow than what it is today. Why? Simply deal with what is as is with an open-mind and heart. Find peace and joy in the moment, the moment, that is the entirety of existence. As Jesus said, Why put that off for some wished for result? "You have me" this moment. I in you and you in me

I had a serious heart condition. On Thursday of last week, I had non-invasive surgery that fixed my arrhythmia. But I never hoped for that result. If it happened, great, if not, so be it. On that note, Jesus is not our hope, he is what dwells within us. Now! Not tomorrow.

The Bible says if you pray for something it has already happened. "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." (Mark 11:24) No need for hope about the results. "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:34). Hope is about tomorrow: drop it!

"I in them and you in me--so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." (John 17:23) "On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you." (John 14:20) Hope not just distracts from the reality of an indwelling grace and spirit, but denies the entire message of Christ.

Peewee Loc: San Antonio, TX

That was really good. Even if you are a devout Christian, at times God will seem far away. He does test us at times to see if we will remain faithful no matter what. That's when you need hope.

rumitoid

So are you saying that hope is only needed when faith waivers? My faith has not always been strong, yet I never doubted Christ in my life. Making a wish list of how God could better do my life is, to me, a sin.

Peewee Loc: San Antonio, TX

No, and I've never doubted Jesus since age nine. But in the low times is when you are tempted to do bad things. There is only so much bullying and mistreatment I'll put up with before I explode. Hope that explains it better. Some are meek and mild and some aren't so meek or mild. Both are needed if only to protect the meek and mild. Hope that makes sense. Every fistfight I've been in was to protect another person or myself after I was hit first. I'm not a bully or a wimp. Hopefully, those days are behind me. I'm aging out of the rough and tumble stuff. My last dust-up was ten years ago. I always walk away if I can. Sometimes you can't and still be a man with self-respect. Now I conceal carry to even the odds. I don't want my ribs or head bashed in by young Turks who run in packs. As a prison guard, I spent a lot of time with Mexican Mafia, Aryan Brotherhood, and other inmates on a daily basis. Everything can seem normal until a riot breaks out along with shanks. I've been in six riots and worked at three units for 17 years. It changes your outlook about some things. It improved my prayer life a lot.

rumitoid

Never had a test. Always seen it just as life.

rumitoid

You truly seem like the best person these prisoners could have needed.

Peewee Loc: San Antonio, TX

A lot of players and con artist in prison. Many have been saved and come to accept Jesus and real change was evident. Wish I could have pardoned a few. These guys saved my butt several times. I never tried to develop snitches but I got tips on contraband and other things all the time. Saved a few young guys from older inmates trying to groom and rape them. It is a jungle in there but you soon learn who the good and bad inmates are. I prefer the open bay sleeping arrangement a lot better than two to a cell. It's much safer for all and much cooler to work in. Every unit is good or bad depending on the supervisor and wardens. The officers do what they have to do to survive too. The gangs get their relatives with clean records to become officers. One reason I retired. It was getting too crazy. A lot of hidden gang bangers in the military and law enforcement today too.

rumitoid

Dang, a lot of fear.

rumitoid

Damn, I understand.

TommyRadd Loc: Midwest USA

Are you serious? Let’s see, where should I start?


I have hope because I don’t want to be miserable:

1Co 15:19 - If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

My hope is a rest to my soul:

Act 2:26 - Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope

I have hope because that is what describes my desire to see the resurrection of the dead:

Act 23:6 - ...Paul... cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question.

Act 24:15 - And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.

I have hope because it unites me with all those who desire the promises of God:

Act 26:6 - And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers:
Act 26:7 - Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.

I have hope because what we receive today is just an earnest (down payment) for the glory which is to come:

Rom 5:2 - By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Rom 5:5 - And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

I have hope because God Himself has subjected me under it:

Rom 8:20 - For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,...

In fact, we are saved by hope, because we hope for that which we don’t have yet:

Rom 8:24 - For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25 - But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Therefore, I rejoice in hope:

Rom 12:12 - Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer

Reading the scriptures gives me hope:

Rom 15:4 - For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

I have hope because my God is a God of hope and He it is that gives me hope!

Rom 15:13 - Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

I have hope because it is one of the three great Christian virtues!

1Co 13:13 - And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

It is a strong sense of hope that allows me to speak of my faith plainly and boldly:

2Co 3:12 - Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech

Through hope I wait for the promise of true, inherent, righteousness (that is to say, beyond mere “imputed” righteousness):

Gal 5:5 - For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

Those without hope are those without Christ and without God in the world:

Eph 2:12 - That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.

I have hope because I am very happy continuing in the faith and remaining settled in the gospel:

Col 1:23 - If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister

I have hope that in the resurrection of loved ones who have gone before:

1Th 4:13 - But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

I have hope because, as part of the armor of God, it protects my head:

1Th 5:8 - But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

I have hope because God has given it to me:

2Th 2:16 - Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace.

My hope has a name, and it is Jesus the Anointed:

1Ti 1:1 - Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope

I have hope in eternal life because God promises it:

Tit 1:2 - In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began

I have hope in the blessed appearing of the one my soul loves, Jesus the Anointed:

Tit 2:13 - Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ

My hope is a huge part of my being an heir:

Tit 3:7 - That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life

I have hope so I can be part of the house of the Son of God:

Heb 3:6 - But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

Heb 6:11 - And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end

Still think hope is ridiculous?

rumitoid

What a true blessing you were to be where you were. Seriously. You were actively doing Christ's work. To those that may need it most. (Not that I don't.) You are a good man, Peewee, and I am honored to know you.

rumitoid

Excellent, Tommy, you truly know the Scriptures. I am not against hope, I just don't need it. I know there is eternal life. If there isn't, how could hope change that? For me, hope is a pretense. It often defies reality or compromises it, distorts what needs to be done. What is, is fine and all of God's plan. I am not saying there is no use for hope for the followers of Christ; it is just not vital to me. Salvation is secured by the word: why hope for salvation? When praying for healing, we do not hope it will happen, we take it for granted that it is already done. Trust over flimsy hope. Just what I see.

Peewee Loc: San Antonio, TX

Just a sinner saved by unearned, unmerited grace. I do good works but that won't save me.
Proverbs 30:4 What is His name and His son's name? Surely you know. Who has ascended into heaven, and then descended? Only Enoch and Elijah have ascended into heaven and will return at the end times, and only Jesus has done both and will return once again. He came as the suffering messiah the first time and will return as the Lion of Judah the second time. Jesus is the only one who went to Paradise and returned.

TommyRadd Loc: Midwest USA

You don’t need Jesus to return?

Not buying it.

Rom 8:23 - And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

Eph 1:14 - Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

7But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 12Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded Phil 3:7-15

Being “perfect” now means not counting oneself to have apprehended but rather being hopeful of the future and pressing toward the mark.

Healing is for today. But full salvation has not yet come. So they aren’t equivalent.

Sounds to me like you’ve settled for something less than has been promised.

To not hope for more is to become complacent. To be complacent is to be self-content and lose the will to improve. To not improve is to stagnate. To stagnate is to die.

Ergo, to not have hope is deadly.

This is what happened to the believing Jews in John 8.

They thought all they lacked was for God to justify them before the world as the children of Abraham. Jesus told them if they continued in his word they would know the truth and the truth would set them free.

They didn’t think they had any need for hope either.

Furthermore, without hope, you really can’t have Abrahamic faith...

Hen 11:1 1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2For by it the elders obtained a good report.

Heb. 11:13-16 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

Rose42

If its just a pretense and not needed then why is it mentioned so often in the bible? Did God make a mistake? Did Paul not trust God because he mentioned hope?