We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people – the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven.  Colossians 1:4,5

A couple of important points of today’s verse:

1) Our hope comes from Jesus (heaven), and that hope produces two essential Christian qualities: Faith and Love. That’s how essential hope is, and it’s why the enemy attacks hope far more often than faith or love, individually. It’s also why the enemy gets along just fine with optimism. It masks the need for faith-and-love-producing hope.

2) We need to take hold of hope: God gives hope and our hope is in Him. Hebrews tells us that “we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf.” (Heb 6:18-20)

Sure, hope encourages us – it’s where we find Jesus’ strength and comfort. But hope also empowers us to seize what God has already determined to give us. Hope is the anchor which holds us to Jesus and His power. And notice this: It is hope that enters in to the mercy seat where Jesus is.

Which brings us to the difference between hope, and what often masquerades for hope: optimism. As we saw last time, hope is not some optimism trip or a mind over matter self-influence. Optimism and hope are not the same thing. The difference is this: optimism is inside of us; it rises from within us. It’s an attitude toward life that we choose, or maybe one we’re just born with or nurtured with.

However it got into us, optimism is internal, a personal disposition, part of our make-up… or not. But more to the point, if it’s something that’s just “in me,” it can fade away when life gets really tough. Or to use another image, it’s something like fuel that I have in my car’s gas tank. I can eventually run out of it.

Hope, on the other hand, is grounded in something outside of me. It’s Jesus who gives us hope. It’s not a just a outlook or just an attitude we have; it’s rooted in a reality beyond us. Jesus is the author of our hope… and our hope is in Him.

That said, a person who isn’t much of an optimist can still be filled with hope and a person who is the personification of optimism can lack any real hope. In fact, from what I’ve seen, it’s easier for a non-optimist to embrace the hope found in Jesus than it is for an optimist, because the non-optimist knows they need hope. That isn’t so easily discernable for the optimist who, in keeping with their cheery outlook, tend to not realize their own needs very well.

Run, flee, to the hope that God has set before us. Pursue it! Take hold of the it! Seek hope.