Give Hope A Chance

In 1990 South Africa, it was evident that political inequality had to change. Soon after President F. W. de Klerk made a speech to parliament in which he called for a nonracist South Africa, a joke started making the rounds: Two solutions were in front of the country, one practical and the other miraculous. Practical: Everyone prays for angels to come down to fix things. Miraculous: People should talk and together find a way forward.

A casual look at history tells us that significant achievements—personal and social—are possible: Segregation laws can fall, weapons can be put down and peace accords forged, the causes of poverty eliminated, and selfish habits replaced with service. Such changes begin with a conviction that what’s going on isn’t right and a hope that prescribes a different future.

Hope is one thing Christians have in ample supply, but perhaps it’s not dwelt on enough. There is power in the Christian openness to God, the source of our hope of fulfillment.

Hope treats the future as something real and positive about humanity. We’re directed toward the future on a trajectory of making something of our lives by curing disease, preparing future generations of adults, and finding ways to protect the Earth’s resources.

Hope is belief that the life God promises us through Jesus will come. It is not fantasy—it’s already happening in our time, in our history, in our world. And as we lean into this future, we are empowered to witness to God by challenging the attitudes and actions and structures that seek to undermine God’s promise of a full life.