What can anyone do without hope? Absolutely nothing! Every being lives in anticipation of a better tomorrow. It is the hope of a better government that makes the electorate troop out to the polling booth to vote out a bad government. The absence of hope leads to despair, and that is not the state a child of God should live in. The Christian life is built around hope, which is the anchor of our faith. The heroes of faith who have gone ahead of us all lived in hope and were comforted by it. Hebrews 11:13 says:
“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.”
The hope of living in the kingdom of God in heaven produced a strong faith in them, which drove them to live blessed lives as strangers and pilgrims on earth.

Mark 5:25-34 narrates how hope worked for the good of a woman with an issue of blood. Even when she had no reason to hope anymore, she kept hope alive that she would overcome her problem someday. When she heard about Jesus, hope produced a great sense of purpose in her heart and persuaded her to come out of her hiding place. As she left her home and struggled through the crowd around Jesus in hope, she kept on saying these words of Mark 5:28 to herself:
“…If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.”
The forward-looking tone of her statement confirms the hope in her. Hope precedes faith, and without it there is no foundation of faith to stand on. This is the reason why we need to keep hope alive in ourselves as we live our daily lives in faith. Hope is so essential that an adage says, “If there is life, there is hope.” In other words, as long as you are still alive, there should be hope in you for a better tomorrow. Speaking along this same line, Ecclesiastes 9:4 says:
“For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.”
Indeed, hope is an essential part of human life.

Are you living in a state of hopelessness today? Please don’t contemplate suicide. No matter how things are for you, your condition is still better than that of someone else. Please keep your hope alive in God. Having Christ in you is the surest source of hope. He gives the hope of a glorious tomorrow to those who have allowed Him into their hearts (Colossians 1:27). Let Him come into your heart today and He will turn that hopeless situation around for good. It is well with your soul.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.