Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:13 (ESV)
Hopefully, she’ll get better and be released from the hospital. Hopefully, their marriage will grow stronger. Hopefully, my prodigal child will return home. We hope for things to go well despite past experiences of shattered hope. When heartbreaking memories intensify, our utterances begin to express doubt that stem from wishful thinking. Uncertainty increases as confidence dwindles.
When I learned my dad had fallen ill and was placed in a hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, we rushed to be by his side. Alarm, panic, dread, distress, worry—these emotions agitated my gut while tears dripped onto my shirt. Even though these sentiments obstructed most of my thinking, I hoped he would be healed and return home. But it wasn't to be. With life support pulled, death was inevitable. Hope faded as despair loomed. I promptly left my dad’s room in search of the hospital chapel. I needed time to pray and reset my thinking.
Sitting in the small chapel, I cried out to God. I thanked Him for my daddy’s salvation through Christ Jesus and pleaded with Him to peacefully carry him to his heavenly home. Quietly pondering God’s promises of salvation, my mind became fixed on eternal life. A peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7) overwhelmed me, and even though tears continued to fall, I knew I could face the future with God’s help. Death has no power over those who belong to God. I would see my daddy again.
My thoughts then turned to Jesus’ disciples. What devastation they must have felt when they witnessed their beaten and bruised Friend and Messiah nailed to a cross. Any hope they had held onto dwindled as Jesus bled and died. What would they do? Where would they go? The days surely hung heavy with sorrow as they hid in horror and fear until news spread about an empty tomb. Some of the women who had followed Jesus were saying He had been restored to life, resurrected three days after His death. Can you imagine their uncertainty and astonishment? Several of Jesus’ disciples couldn’t run fast enough to see for themselves. Were they hopefully wishing all would be well?
During the weeks after the resurrection, the risen Jesus appeared to His disciples causing them to reset their thinking. Their doubts turned to certainty, skepticism turned to trust. And when Christ returned to heaven and sent His Holy Spirit to embolden His disciples, their confusion became complete confidence. Their hopefully had become hope fully, not wishful thinking but abiding hope. Their Savior and Friend had conquered death—He was alive. Because of their belief in the resurrected Savior, they could hold onto hope, a living hope. They would see Jesus again.
The certainty of new life through our Savior Jesus Christ changes wishes to fact. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, God holds an imperishable inheritance in heaven for those who believe in the Savior. Yet while on earth, the believer can cling to living hope, the essence of faith in God through Jesus Christ.
Even though the disciples suffered excruciating trials because of their faith, they placed their hope in the power of their resurrected Savior. They set their minds on Christ, allowing the Holy Spirit to empower them to hope fully.
I carried immense sorrow into the chapel as my dad lay dying in his hospital room. But the Holy Spirit enabled me to walk out with stronger faith. As I set my mind on Jesus’ resurrection, God reminded me of the imperishable inheritance saved in heaven for both of us. I fixed my hope fully on eternal life.
Hope fully in the risen Savior Jesus Christ’s power over death. Hope fully in new life on earth with Jesus and eternal life in heaven with Him. Because we have a Savior who defeated death and rose to victory, we have a living hope. We don’t have to hopefully go to heaven when we die. With our minds set on Christ, we can hope fully on the finished work of Jesus, and receive an imperishable inheritance, waiting for us in heaven.
“God rewards fearless hopers with the fruit of their hope.”
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. 1 Peter 1:3-7 (NLT)