Years later, Dr. Karl Menninger, noted Psycho-Therapist, defined hope as an adventure, a going forward—a confident search for a rewarding life.  I like that definition better, but it still falls a bit short of fully defining hope in a theological context.

Hope, as presented in the New Testament, is nothing at all like the idea of Mr. Micawber, in Dicken’s classic David Copperfield, for whom hope was a matter of waiting for his ship to come in, a ship that never arrived because it was nothing more than wishful thinking, unconnected to planning or working or anything of substance.  Wishful thinking is not a product of creative visionary thinking.

Hope, as taught in the New Testament, is nothing like the nervous belief that you may win the lottery if you buy enough tickets.

What the New Testament calls hope is an assurance that reaches two ways:  it reaches back to the teachings and life of Jesus of Nazareth in the cross and the resurrection; it reaches forward to the promise of the parousia, the closing age…the fulfillment of God in Christ overcoming the forces of darkness and evil.

Dr. Neil Fisher in his book, The Parables of Jesus: Glimpses of God’s Reign, writes, "The message of the New Testament is that the time through which we pass has been fractured by light. Even as we live among the marks of the old order, there are glimpses here and there of God’s Reign breaking in. The two realms are in conflict. In Jesus Christ the Reign of God is present." (page 17)

Hope is the work of God from first to last.  While we may like to take all the credit for what we accomplish in this life, the bottom line is that we are utterly dependent upon God’s grace.

So, when genuine hope is at work in our lives, things happen.  Positive and creative forces are released within us, as experienced by Saul on the road to Damascus.  And when you become a person of faith, as Saul the persecutor became Paul the Apostle, you feel accepted as you realize that you belong to God and have a place in God’s kingdom…a place in God’s Reign.

A famous sermon by the theologian Paul Tillich bears the title:  You are Accepted!  Dr. Tillich proclaimed:  "We experience moments in which we accept ourselves, because we feel that we have been accepted by that which is greater than we. For it is such moments that make us love our life, that make us accept ourselves not in our goodness and self-complacency, but in our certainty of the eternal meaning of our life."