Rediscover A Thrill of Hope at Christmas

Rediscover A Thrill of Hope at Christmas

Does Christmas thrill you?

Children get excited at the coming of the season, and often we might feel a bit of a charge through experiencing their amazement, but the chores we go through to provide that for them are often the very things that rob us from knowing the wonder for ourselves. Plan the party, decorate the tree, max out the credit card, wrap stuff, mail stuff, take a trip. And that’s assuming we aren’t one of the multitudes who find themselves with a case of the Holiday Blues.

Christ’s coming into this world offers hope, and hope provides a thrill, how do we locate this experience amid the distraction and disillusionment of December?

Well that’s the cool thing about Hope. Just as total darkness can’t hold back the light of a tiny flame, so does even the smallest increment of Hope provide joy and purpose.

Here are some scriptures on this subject:

“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” (Hebrews 11:1).

Notice the parallel between “what we hope for” and “things we cannot see.” Talk about a paradox ( a statement that seems contradictory or that does not make common sense) ; try applying “assurance” to something your five senses can’t detect. It’s a challenge. The plus side is that hope, through Christ, is available to you no matter what you see, hear, or feel. It’s above your circumstances.

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” (Romans 5:3-5).

Do you ever hear people say, “I don’t want to get my hopes up” because they’re afraid of being disappointed? What would you make of Paul’s claim that “hope will not lead to disappointment”? Might it have something to do with what we’re hoping for or expecting? Max Lucado thinks so:

“Hope is not what you’d expect; it is what you would never dream. It is a wild, improbable tale with a pinch-me-I’m dreaming ending… Hope is not a granted wish or a favor performed; no, it is far greater than that. It is a zany, unpredictable dependence on a God who loves to surprise us out of our socks and be there in the flesh to see our reaction.”

“Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Ever wonder why faith, hope, and love are the greatest virtues?

Maybe hope isn’t actually something we do, but something we receive, like grace. If it’s true that “..it is impossible to please God without faith” (Hebrews 11:6), perhaps it’s conversely true that without Hope it would be impossible for Him to please us. The same verse says that “that he rewards those who sincerely seek him”. Is hope that reward?

If faith is what we give to God, and hope is what He gives to us, then we have the ingredients of a powerful relationship. With that in place, we can love. So love is built on hope, which is built on faith.

For hope to exist, unfortunately it looks like there has to be hopelessness first. A perfect world wouldn’t have any need of hope. Deliverance arrives undeservedly and perhaps unexpectedly, just as in the unlikely way God came to earth to provide a once-and-for-all substitute for the sins of all men on the first Christmas. That’s why things can look bleak, but that’s where hope lives.

The good news is: you simply can’t hope big enough, which goes back to the idea of our minds and senses being inadequate to judge God’s design and methods, and hope being more a function of God’s involvement than our desires. God says in Isaiah 55:8-9: “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” ….. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

We readily acknowledge that we could not have conceived of the plan of salvation or the virgin birth. We couldn’t have imagined the plan for the walls of Jericho to crumble, for hungry lions to turn into Daniel’s pet kittens, or the Red Sea to part and offer up dry land. So neither do we know how our problems will be solved, or what miracles we’ll be blessed to see this Christmas.

The scripture in Isaiah 9:6-7, is concerning the hope of the prophecy being fulfilled that brought us a “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” The last sentence of verse seven says that “The passionate commitment of the LORD” will accomplish this. God is excited! He’s zealous, enthusiastic, passionate, even obsessive, to bring us this hope!

Romans 15:13 should be our Christmas prayer: “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Why is there hope? Because Jesus was born! O holy night.

8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! (Luke 2:8-11)

And He still lives today. “…for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.” (Romans 8:34)