HOPE: ITS FUNCTION AND SOURCE

We all recognize the need for hope. It’s what gets us out of bed in the morning and enables us to face our suffering and fears with confidence. We also observe that hope is a product of what we think and believe about our future. In light of this, Shane J. Lopez, Ph.D. has written:

·       Not all thinking about the future is created equal. Hope feels different from the other types of future thinking and it’s more potent than wishing and dreading. When hoping, I work harder today. It comes along with a whole rush of plans for how to move toward that future. My thought experiments…taught me that the real benefits of the warm feeling I got when I hoped for the future. That positive emotion opened my mind to what I needed to get done today. And I was compelled to act. (Psychology Today, Posted Apr 15, 2013)

It is true that not all thoughts are equal and that positive thoughts about our future can produce warm feelings and confidence. However, I have several reservations about Lopez’ hope:

·       Thinking the thoughts that will give us warm-fuzzes have their limitations. Our experience and disposition, to some extent, locks us into certain mental ruts or thought patterns.

·       In order for positive thoughts to function “positively,” we have to believe that they are true. If we perceive that our thinking fails to line up with reality, our thoughts are no more potent than reading a fantasy about Peter Pan.

·       If we found that we are able to master life’s pains and grieving by hopeful thoughts, it would seem to minimize the realities of life and make us less than sympathetic towards the suffering of others.

·       If our hopeful thoughts are not based upon truth, they will eventually disappoint us and flee away no matter how hard we try to retrieve them. If we are able to retrieve them, it might signify that we are living out a psychotic fantasy.

·       If our hopeful beliefs are not based upon reality, we will not be able to manage our lives effectively, which inevitably requires accurate data.

Instead, I have found that my faith in Jesus has given me the hope that I need without requiring me to sacrifice truth or reality, and I have been following Him for 42 years.

When we introduce false beliefs into our roadmap, we eventually realize that this map has failed to identify the terrain over which we must navigate. However, this has not been my experience as I have followed my Savior. Instead, this worldview has brought coherence to the various segments of my life that had once seemed so irreconcilable and had been a source of great confusion. Consequently, my life in Christ is like completing a jigsaw puzzle where everything satisfyingly aligns.

Besides, faith in Jesus is a faith that extends into all eternity, while breathing life and meaning into the present.