The Audacity of Lesser Hopes

… having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, Ephesians 1:18

This is not a political commentary. But current political issues are illustrating clearly for me the problem with placing our hopes in lesser hopes than the one to which we are called in Scripture. A lot of people were hopeful after the last election. (A lot of people were also very upset and determined to undermine everything.) But a lot of people were very, very hopeful – earnestly expecting a positive change. And it didn’t happen as they hoped. Two years later, they are disappointed. And there is a massive rebound effect. In my opinion, that rebound does not have nearly as much to do with political ideologies as it does with disappointed hopes and expectations and our attempts to find new hopes after the last one let us down.

In Christ, we have a different hope altogether that political ideologies cannot even begin to touch. It alone is the hope that will not disappoint, that will not put us to shame. Every other lesser hope will fail us, even if it is a good thing. New groups are placing new hopes in new political ideologies, all of which may be very good, but it is still not a safe place to put my HOPE. There should be a difference in good things we pursue and good things in which we HOPE. Do good things. Pursue wise political paths. Obey commands. But don’t place your HOPE in them. I love my husband, train my children, and care for my friends. I steward my money and guard my words. I prayerfully choose the best education methods for my children. I make sacrifices to bring them into this world, feed them, and educate them in light of my convictions. But I can’t HOPE in that.

I am to place my hope in one singular thing – the gospel. Paul prays at the end of Ephesians 1 that our eyes would be opened to the hope of our calling, which he has just outlined in Ephesians 1 as the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places we have in Christ, secured for us for eternity through the deposit of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Our hope is that God will not default on His promises to us. Our hope is that He WANTS us, and we are SECURE in Him.

Just as people get disappointed when their president doesn’t change the course of the country in two years, I get disappointed when my children don’t respond to my carefully thought out discipline. Or when my budget doesn’t rebound after careful planning. Or when conflicts between friends don’t reconcile in a timely manner. Or when the weight doesn’t fall off after denying myself the food that I want. My emotional response to disappointment is a good indicator to me whether I was just being a good steward trying to make wise choices or if I had misplaced my hopes for what will save me and heal me.

Lesser hopes, even when realized, inevitably diminish over time. You get the husband, child, job, or president for which you had hoped. But it doesn’t bring you what you hoped it would bring. At our core, we want rest and peace. We want shalom. We want things that ease our loneliness or stress. We want safety and security. That reality has been secured for us in heaven, and it is breaking even now into our reality on earth. As the writer of Hebrews says, we don’t yet SEE everything subject to Him, but everything IS subject to Him. And that is our hope.

If you are disappointed, I encourage you to look clearly at the object in which you had placed your hope and which then let you down. And free yourself (and them) from that expectation. Be a good steward. Make wise choices. But hope in Christ and those things that are not seen but which are your secure reality in heaven.

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Rom. 5:5 NIV

Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,
and let me not be put to shame in my hope! Psalms 119:116