Our Hope
There is a story told about James B. Stockdale who was a navy pilot in 1965. During the Vietnam War he became one of the first to be shot down. As a prisoner of the Vietcong, he spent seven years as a P.O.W., during which he was frequently tortured in an attempt to break him and get him to denounce the U.S. involvement in the war. His captors would take and chain his hands above his head and leave him that way for many days. He had no way to even swat a mosquito, so you can imagine the torture that was in itself. After being rescued and returning home, he had a limp that forever remained with him due to the fact that his captors broke his leg and never reset it. One of the greatest tortures he said was being put into isolation, away from all the other captives, and only allowed to see those who were his enemies.
But he survived all of that and when asked how he could do it, according to the story given, he said “that it was his hope that kept him alive. Hope of one day going home, that each day could be the day of his release. Without hope, he knew that he would die in hopelessness, as others had done. Such is the power of hope that it can keep one alive when nothing else can.”
The Bible speaks a lot about hope. One particular part, in Titus 1:1,2, it says, “In hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.” We have the hope of eternal life. It is through Jesus Christ, whom Paul says, in Colossians 1:27, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Christ in our hearts and lives produces, if we let it, a hope that is steadfast and sure, as Hebrews 6:19 says, “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul.”
What will get us through this life into the next with all of its trials and burdens, with all of its negative circumstances and disappointments, with all of its times of frustration and even despair, what will get us through is our hope of something better, our hope in Jesus Christ, our hope in eternal life. We don’t have to be overcome by hopelessness. We don’t have to be defeated or beat down by anything because we have hope in Christ, who brings and gives us hope for this life and the next. So we can keep our chins up, if you will, and walk with a confidence born out of hope. We can know that this world is not our home. We are just passing through. There is a better world out there. Jesus promised. And we have hope in that promise!