We all need hope
God made each of us for a bigger purpose. We are not satisfied with just going through the motions every day. We need hope. We need to know that there is some bigger picture to life, some purpose beyond the tasks we are working on day by day.
Think of the swimmer who trains in the early mornings for years, spending time in the gym, and listening to the advice of coaches. Why would they do that? So that, at one day in the future, they can perform well, and achieve what they are working for. The work makes sense if it leads somewhere.
That same logic works for anyone studying, or even for anyone saving money. You study because you want to work in a certain job in the future; you save money because you want to be able to afford a certain thing or live a certain lifestyle in the future. Studying and saving money alone might give you some satisfaction, but the real motivator is that they lead to something bigger.
Too many people don’t have that bigger picture, that future hope. All they have is now, or perhaps the next thing they are planning for in a month or a year. If that’s it, that we are limited to what is ‘under the sun’ as Ecclesiastes teaches, it is meaningless. A chasing after the wind. We get tasks done, we go to sleep, and we wake up again and do more tasks. A cycle that can be soul-destroying if that is all there is.
Many also think that the future is bad rather than good. If all we have to look forward to is AI taking our jobs, a destroyed planet, and billionaires running everything corruptly for their own good, that sounds dreadful. It can lead people to despair.
We need hope. This is one area that Christians have something real and practical to show the wider world. We know that Jesus gives us hope for eternal life, and for a better life now following our good God.
When we have such eternal hope, the tasks we do today make more sense. We’re not only working for an unreasonable boss, we’re working for King Jesus. We’re not just coping with struggles and illnesses, we are going through a light and momentary struggle while we look for an eternal weight of glory.
Remember the bigger picture on the days life seems overwhelming. God gives us hope. We should live lives full of hope. Hope makes all the difference in the world, especially on the hard days.