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The Holy Spirit and Hope

Read Romans 5:4, 5; 15:13; and 1 Corinthians 13:13. How are love and hope related to each other? How is the Holy Spirit instrumental in giving us love and hope?

The Holy Spirit is the One who has poured out the love of God within our hearts. He connects us to God and makes God's love dwell in us. God's steadfast and unchanging love is the reason and the bedrock of our hope. Without love there would be no hope. Only love generates hope. Because God's love is combined with His faithfulness, we have the wonderful hope that He will come again and take us home to where He is.

Read Psalm 31:24. What effects does hope have on us?

Hope inspires. Hope gives new strength. Hope lets us sing and be joyful. Hope is essential for life. Without hope, what is the purpose of life?

Having hope, however, is something different from being optimistic. The optimist thinks that everything will get better: the weather, the economy, the school grades, the finances, et cetera. Hope, instead, is not blind optimism. Rather, it is grounded in God's faithfulness and in the promises that He has given in the past. Hope believes that God will fulfill what He has said because He is faithful and true. God has proven to be dependable, and He does not waver. His steadfastness and truth are the foundation for our hope.

No question, too, the foundation of our hope is found in Jesus on the cross. When we look to the cross, we can see in the most powerful way possible the reality of God's love for us. The cross, with Jesus dying for our sins, gives us and the universe an unparalleled revelation of just what our God is truly like. Thus, as fallen and temporal beings in a vast and big cosmos, we can find hope, not in ourselves or in whatever "great" things we accomplish, but in our God, a God who has revealed Himself to us on the cross.

How is the Advent hope grounded in God's faithful promises? How does hope influence our life? How can we develop a lifestyle that reflects hope instead of despair?