The Path to Lasting Hope

Hope comes by a process.

It isn’t listed in the Galatians 5 fruit of the Spirit.
It isn’t mentioned in Romans or Corinthians as a gift of the Spirit.

Hope comes as a domino
Tumbling gloriously into our lives
As an inevitable sequence of pain and grace
Cycles in our lives:

“Suffering produces endurance,
and endurance produces character,
and character produces hope” (Rom. 5:3-4).

I’d prefer a shortcut
But there is no easy button
For the kind of godly hope
That endures and prevails and anchors—
Hope that is assured of future blessedness,
Hope that faces down all manner of disappointment,
Hope that doesn’t weaken or wilt or waste away,
That sort of hope in God
Comes by a process:

Suffering – the heavy weight of challenge, leads to
Endurance – bearing under the adversity by grace, leads to
Character – virtue and wisdom grounded in revelation, leads to
Hope – not wishful thinking, but assurance of blessedness no matter what.

In a hopeless world,
I bless you to be filled with hope,
Though it be forged in fire,
Be filled with hope.