Christians have “a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

     What Hope Are You Hanging On To?        

    Can humans have hope without God? Author E. M. Bounds once received a letter predicting a grim and hopeless future for humanity (Bounds was a contributor to “New York” magazine but also authored children’s books – two of the best known are Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little). Bounds’ response to the letter was published in a book titled Letters of E. B. White and also later in the September, 2014 issue of Reader’s Digest. The letter is dated 30 March, 1973, and in its entirety reads as follows:  “Dear Mr. Nadeau, As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate. Hope is the thing that is left to us, in a bad time. I shall get up Sunday morning and wind the clock, as a contribution to order and steadfastness. Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say, the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of human society – things can look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed, sometimes rather suddenly. It is quite obvious that the human race has made a queer mess of life on this planet. But as a people we probably harbor seeds of goodness that have lain for a long time waiting to sprout when the conditions are right. Man’s curiosity, his relentlessness, his inventiveness, his ingenuity have led him into deep trouble, we can only hope that these same traits will enable him to claw his way out.  Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day.”

    Bounds said some good things in his letter. His statement that, “Hope is the thing that is left to us, in a bad time” sounds like so much we read in the Bible. And his admonition to “Hang on to hope” brings to mind the statement found in Hebrews 6:19 that our hope in Christ is “an anchor of the soul.” Hope can help to hold us steady when the storms of life howl and seek to blow us off course. And Bounds is certainly right that the human race has made a mess out of life on this planet. Crime and violence and sin of every stripe and kind continues to plague our world and dominate headlines. But Bounds is wrong, dead wrong, when he suggests that humans harbor within themselves dormant seeds of goodness, just waiting to sprout “when the conditions are right.” Conditions were right in the Garden of Eden! 

Bounds makes a common mistake – he encourages people to hang on to hope but leaves us hanging about exactly what hope we ought to hang on to! God is nowhere in the picture he paints. People hope in all kinds of things – politics, legislation, diplomacy, research, education, technology, medicine, money, diet, exercise, etc., etc. But mostly, what continues to sprout out of humans who ignore and reject God and the moral and spiritual guidance found in His word are the things we see around us – things like hatred, hostility, enmity, and the “works of the flesh” (Galatians 5:19-21). Christians, on the other hand, have “a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).

We “live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age” even as we are daily “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:12-13). Don’t just hang on to your hat and don’t just hang on to a hope that hangs on nothing – hang your hope on “the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope” (1 Timothy 1:1).

By Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN