What Are You Hoping For?
I know what drives your life. It’s hope.
- Why do we choose the careers we chose? We hope to make lots of money. Or we hope to get paid for doing something we enjoy.
- Why do we buy the things we buy? We hope to make life easier. We hope to experience pleasure. We hope to give our kids a good life.
- Why did you vote the way you did in the recent election? You hope your choices will make for a better country.
We’re driven subconsciously by hope.
Hope frames the narrative of where we are going as a society. This collective hope also shapes our identity.
In his book, The Real American Dream: A Meditation on Hope, Andrew Delbanco identified three ways this narrative has played out in America. When looking at the big story—what life is all about—Delbanco wrote that American culture has been driven by three things: God, Nation, and Self.
- God. From the earliest days of the colonies, the meaning of life and hope rested in God. We were to live and work for the glory of God. God (or Providence) remained in the forefront.
- Nation. The United States grew and prospered, chiefly because we were driven by an identity connected to God. But with that growth and prosperity—as we became more and more a nation to be reckoned with—our focus and identity moved from God to our nation. We are America, the greatest nation on earth! We could do what we wanted—and we were proud of it. We placed our hope and confidence in our country.
- Self. An identity wrapped up in America began to change 50-60 years ago. Delbanco said we lost our sense of “a common destiny worth tears, sacrifice, and maybe even death.”[1] We have shifted to an individual focus—a focus on me. Hope in ourselves? Hoo boy, that can be fickle!
Both our hope and our identity must be wrapped up in Jesus Christ. All else will ultimately disappoint us and fail.
When I lose the job I built my hope on, where do I turn? If my identity is absorbed with being a writer (or a doctor or an ace salesman) what happens to my identity when I retire?
Where’s my hope when government leaders falter? I love this country, but it will fail me. America will ultimately join the other fallen empires like the Greeks and Romans in the history books. Where’s my national hope then?
Hope in anything self-oriented will fail. The gadgets, cars, and homes we build our hope and identity on will fail. Gadgets become obsolete, cars start leaking oil, and homes begin to look dated. Even if I get everything I feel is my right to have, where will that ultimately get me?
And finally, in the end, even our bodies fail. Our minds falter. We die. And for all our hope in country and self, what did we gain? But hope in God is a whole different matter!
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Pet. 1:3-4)
“This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:5).
Frankly, that’s the only hope I can count on. And that hope is what I choose to base my identity on.
“Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful” (Heb. 10:23).
Where’s your hope?
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This post supports the study “Looking Forward with Hope” in Bible Studies for Life and YOU.
[1] Delbanco, The Real American Dream: A Meditation on Hope (Harvard University Press, 1999), pp. 96-97.
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