What is Hope?

1. To wish for something with expectation of its fulfillment.
2. Archaic: To have confidence; trust.

It seems to me that there are different levels of hope. There is hope that the lemon meringue pie will turn out. There is hope that we will win the game this weekend. To some extent, though we cannot guarantee the outcome of those events, we can do things to help sway the outcome one direction or the other. If we plan and prepare and read the recipe carefully, we can probably end up with a good lemon meringue pie. If we prepare for the game and practice on the right things, we have a better chance of winning the game this weekend.

That's the key word though: chance. To a great extent, the things of this world that we hope for are things that we wish for, but they aren't things or results that we are certain of attaining. The hope that the world gives us is uncertain. We might hope in wealth or we might hope in our health. Those things can vanish into thin air.

Some of you know that I have Parkinson's Disease. There are few things in life that I want more than to be healed. I am hoping for a cure. I hope that I can live long enough to see and play with my grandkids. I hope I can have a comfortable retirement. There is no certainty with Parkinson's, though.

While waiting for a cure, I'm watching my body slow down. My walk sometimes is reduced to a shuffle; my speech is often a jumble of stuttering and stammering. I move slowly and I drool when I try to blow out candles on a birthday cake. I'm finding cognitive impairment affects how I think. I can't keep track of large amounts of data. Problem solving has become very difficult. I am indecisive. It's hard for me to make decisions in real time.

I had brain surgery in March as part of a new clinical trial being conducted by Duke Medical (in NC) and Mount Sinai (in NY). I have hope that the brain surgery will help alleviate the symptoms of, or even heal, Parkinson's Disease. There is no guarantee, however.

But you know what? God tells us to rejoice always. Jesus himself tells us to be cheerful, regardless of what the world is doing to us or what we are experiencing. "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." -- John 16:33.

The hope that we have in Christ is not a thing of chance; it's not something that we need to worry about happening or not happening. In Ephesians, Paul writes that the hope of salvation is our helmet. The world can beat us up all it wants to, but our helmet - the hope of salvation - protects us. The reason we can have hope - the reason we can have certainty - is because of Christ's salvation. Jesus Christ already fought and won the battle for us. If Jesus is our Lord, the blood he shed on the cross has atoned for our sins and his resurrection has given us eternal life.

The hope that we have in Christ is not a wish. It's a guarantee. The hope that I have in Christ is what gives me the ability to get out of bed in the morning, knowing it's going to be a great day. This Parkinson's thing is only temporary, for however long I have on earth. I can laugh at it because, in the grand scheme of things, my hope does not rest on the things of this world. My hope rests in Christ.