* "When we are trapped in a tunnel of misery, hope points to the light at the end.
* When we are overworked and exhausted, hope gives us fresh energy.
* When we are discouraged, hope lifts our spirits.
* When we are tempted to quit, hope keeps us going.
* When we lose our way and confusion blurs our destination, hope dulls the edge of panic.
* When we struggle with a crippling disease or a lingering illness, hope helps us persevere beyond the pain.
* When we fear the worst, hope brings reminders that God is still in control.
* When we must endure the consequences of bad decisions, hope fuels our recovery.
* When we find ourselves in financial difficulty, hope tells us that we still have a future.
* When we are forced to sit back and wait, hope gives us the patience to trust.
* When we feel rejected and abandoned, hope reminds us we're not alone...we'll make it.
* When we say our final farewell to someone we love, hope in the life beyond gets us through our grief."

(Charles R. Swindoll, Hope Again: When Life Hurts and Dreams Fade, pp.xi,xii)

How can love always hope when the situation seems hopeless? How can you continue to love when your alcoholic husband is abusive? How can you continue to love when your son or daughter rejects your faith and all the values you taught them to respect? How can you continue to love God when an incurable disease is destroying your loved one? How can we continue to love when prospects in this life seem hopeless?

The answer is that love's source is in God. Love's hope is not just wishful thinking. Love's hope is not just unrealistic expectations. Love's hope finds its confidence in God's eternal plan which is beyond human understanding. So Paul prays for those he loves: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13)

"Hope looks beyond a cure for disease, a solution for a problem, an escape from pain, to an assurance from God that life has point and meaning in spite of disease, problems, and pain. Hope looks to the promise of the final victory of Jesus Christ over all that hurts and kills. This is the hope that gives us courage to praise today and face tomorrow with expectancy even when we do not expect the problem to be solved." (Lewis Smedes, Love Within Limits, p. 103)

How do we draw on that kind of hope? It comes from being filled with the Spirit. We ask for the gift of the Spirit which Jesus came to give us. We open our hearts and minds to receive that which we need, when all things seem to be hopeless and we are tempted to despair. We believe that God who loves us, will give us the hope we need, to sustain us.

"Hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us." (Romans 5:5) We can hope because we have received the love of God in Christ who died for us. God demonstrated his own love for us in that while we were yet sinners, and there seemed to be no hope for us changing or being changed, Christ died for us. God poured that redemptive love into our hearts by his Holy Spirit to give us hope.

Simon Peter is a case in point. Jesus warned Simon, "Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed that your faith may not fail." (Luke 22:31,32) In so many instances in our lives, Satan tries to sift us like wheat, by attacking our love so that we lose hope. Jesus is still interceding for us that our faith will not fail. Peter tried to brazen his way through by declaring that he was ready for anything, even to go to prison and to death for Jesus. Jesus deflated his balloon by warning him that before the night was out he would deny three times that he knew him. After this happened Peter remembered what Jesus had said, "And he went out and wept bitterly." (Luke 22:61,62)

You can imagine his despair. This strong, boastful fisherman had disgraced himself and let his Master down. The shame and regret must have been terrible to bear. What hope would he have to be able to put things right. Jesus had been crucified. There was no way he could repair what he had done. There was no light at the end of the tunnel. He would have to live with his denial the rest of his life. Satan had won. His faith had failed.

Yet, the impossible happened. There was life beyond death. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, were told by the angel in the empty tomb to "Go, tell his disciples, and Peter." (Mark 16:7) Jesus especially wanted Peter to know that he was going ahead of him into Galilee where he would see him again.

When he heard this message Peter began to hope again. The day came when he was fishing and Jesus appeared. In an historic meeting he restored Peter to his mission after asking him three times, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" (John 21:15,16,17) Peter replied three times, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." That love for Jesus gave him hope when all seemed to be lost.

It is not surprising that when Peter came to write his letter to Christian believers, he began by witnessing to the source of his hope. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you." (1 Peter 1:3,4)

Peter knew he was loved by God. The Holy Spirit had poured God's love into his heart despite his failures. That love inspired his love for Jesus and others. The resurrection of Jesus confirmed its reality and gave him new hope. That hope depended not on this world but in the reality of an eternal inheritance. The love that hopes sees possibility which unbelief cannot see. The love that hopes does not require answers and solutions in this life. Love continues to hope beyond the present into the future and into eternity, where all will be revealed in the last time. This love is willing to wait, to accept, to be patient, to hope for all things to be resolved, not now, but in the last time. It is this hope, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which will not disappoint us. Thanks be to God.

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