Editorial: Confident Hope

Editorial by Rick Remmers

Hope is an interesting word. We hope for a lot of different things. We hope it won’t rain on the day we’ve planned a picnic. We hope there are no traffic jams on our commute to work. We hope to be able to find our favorite socks. We hope our teacher doesn’t give us a pop quiz.

Then there are the more substantive concerns. We hope there is more money in our account than days in the month. We hope our nation enacts laws promoting justice and equality. We hope our employer’s business does well so our job is secure. We hope organizations we are part of will promote fairness and opportunity.

But ultimately, our greatest hope is in the promise of God’s Word, the assurance of the grace of Jesus Christ and His soon return to rescue us from the curse of sin and a world out of control.

The Scriptures speak of hope in very certain terms. “Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying” (Rom. 12:12, NLT). We can be confident because of the reliability of the One making the promises. He has also promised to bring history to a rapid conclusion.

This gives us reason to rejoice. Not because of what we see going on around us. Not because of the latest news story or because of the latest advancement in technology. Not due to the promise of a politician or pundit. In fact, we are reminded to be patient in trouble. The apostle knew his first-century readers would need patience. We do, too. We wait for the fulfillment of our hope. But we wait with confidence. And we keep on praying, confident that our hopes will soon be a reality. Jesus will soon return.

Rick Remmers is president of the Chesapeake Conference