2025 Spring Issue 1 Volume 34

As I thumbed through the New Testament, I found a page with pen ink on it. The passage was Romans 8, and Dad had circled verse 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?” This discovery rocked me, so let me impress its significance on you in this way: Ephesians 2:8 had neither circle nor star. Even John 3:16 sat unmarked. Here, in Dad’s darkest hours, he chose to focus on HOPE.

The greek word used here is ἐλπίς (elpís), and it doesn’t mean wishful thinking. In the Bible, HOPE means the expectation of something. Hebrews 6 describes the hope we have in God’s promises as an “anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast…” (Hebrews 6:19). Dad’s hope (read: “expectation”) was in something that his physical eyes could not yet see: the redemption of his body, which was at that time drawing near. Even as he fought for his life, Dad rested in God’s promises. Verse 28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Notice that it doesn’t say all things “will” work together for good. God isn’t waiting on deck taking practice swings. God isn’t standing by to work at some future point. He is working right now. Likewise, Christ didn’t tell his disciples that he “would” overcome the world. He said “I have overcome the world,” (John 16:33). We can have HOPE in the guarantee that we have through Christ that what he says is as good as done, even if we haven’t seen it yet. If you have trusted Christ for everlasting life, then you can trust Him with everything else too!