By Stewart Holloway
PINEVILLE, La. – Do you have hope? Yesterday, I heard a judge say that everyone needs hope. She was right.
The hope the judge encouraged was a hope for a better life. Everyone needs a vision for their future, something to look forward to, the feeling that a better day awaits. “To live without hope is to cease to live,” wrote Fyodor Dostoevsky. “What oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope to the meaning of life,” wrote Emil Brunner.
While the judge focused on the need for hope, I’d like to focus on the source of hope. You will never have lasting hope without going to the source of hope. That source is Jesus.
I recently read, “Many people see only a hopeless end; but with Jesus you can enjoy an endless hope.” More money will not bring lasting hope. Once you get more, you’ll just need even more. That relationship will not bring lasting hope. At some point, that person will disappoint you. That possession will not bring lasting hope. It will get a scratch, break, or grow old. Nothing will bring lasting hope except Jesus.
Everything else is a dying hope. Jesus is a living hope.
Fix your eyes on Jesus – not your circumstances. He will bring you hope no matter where you are or what you are going through. Ask God to fill you with His hope. Only His hope will bring you joy and peace.
Stewart Holloway is pastor of the First Baptist Church in Pineville. This editorial first appeared on his Facebook page.
