Anxiety, depression, and feelings of hopelessness is pretty common nowadays. Future can feel uncertain. Bad circumstances can easily happen all of a sudden. Hope is important to keep going on with life.
God is Superior than Everything
No matter how big our problems may be, remember that God is greater than everything. He created the Heavens and the Earth, and everything in it. From organisms as small as a bacteria to as big as the Sun and all the starts in the universe, God created everything.
And the God that created everything is the same God that we are calling. He is the same God of whom we can find hope.
Knowing that God created everything can bring us comfort.
Focus on Christ above Anything Else
When facing any problem or living life in general, focusing on Christ helps us live our lives. When we focus on our problems, problems may seem bigger than it is. Spending a lot of time thinking of a problem over and over again may make us feel more anxious.
When we focus on Christ and who He is, our problem can seem smaller and more manageable all of a sudden, knowing that God have power over everything.
Sometimes, we can feel that we can’t solve problems on our own, and it can feel overwhelming. With Christ, everything is possible. He is the same God that turned water into wine and created everything on Earth.
Whenever you face any problem, pausing for a moment and focusing on Christ brings things into perspective.
Remember about some problem you may have in the past. Try to reflect what your responses are towards a problem and reflect what you can learn from them. How will you respond on problems next time?
What does it mean to Hope in Christ?
Hope in Christ means to hold God’s promises in the bible and the hope of eternal life through Christ salvation. There are about 7,147 promises from God in the bible. Also, hope in Christ means to trust and depend on Him.
Here are 15 promises of God (out of 7,147) on the bible.
There are quite a lot of examples of people in the bible that highlights hope in Christ. One of them was Abraham. God promised Him that He would have a child when Abraham and his wife is around 70 years old. Abraham trusted God and decades later, He had a son named Isaac.
Our God is capable of doing anything. All we have to do is trust and believe in Him. Pray about what His plans are for our lives.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? … But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Matthew 6: 25,33-34
Hope of Heaven
At some point, all of us will die. Thankfully, we have a hope of Heaven because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross around 2,000 years ago. We can look forward to spending eternity with Him. While we are still on Earth, we have opportunity to live for Him and share His good news to others.
With this perspective, our current life problems can seem a lot smaller.
Silver Linings of Problems
Though problems aren’t pleasant, it may have some silver linings. Problems may point us towards spending time with God and be closer to Him. Also, it can increase our faith from the experience of God and could potentially give us a testimony to share to others in the future.
Problems and challenges in life can make us stronger as a person and deeper our relationship with Christ.
Trust God’s Will for your Life
Life’s challenges are unavoidable, even for believers in Christ. Facing life’s challenges with Christ is better than facing it alone. Eventually, we may realize that life’s challenges happened for a reason.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28
Below is an excerpt from one of my other articles about finding hope in Christ.
Find Hope in Christ
We can ask God to lead us to what His plans are for our lives. Instead of thinking about what we can do, focus on what God can do to your life.
Our life on Earth is temporary. Eventually, God will take everyone who knows Him and believes in Him to heaven to be with Him on eternity. Look forward to the future when we will see God face to face and be with Him forever.
Jesus have overcome death. Whatever problems we have, God is surely capable of helping us to overcome it. God may allow life problems to call our attention and grow as a person.
Remember that life on Earth is short and temporary. We have to make the most of our time and be useful to God and other people. At some point, we will give an account to God based on what we have done on the resources He entrusted us (time, abilities, etc.)
Consider the Parable of Talents on Matthew 25:14-30 where the master have entrusted two and five talents to two servants which have grown it to four and ten talents respectively. On the other hand, one servant who was entrusted with one talent did not use it.
No matter how much abilities and time God have entrusted us, may we use and make the most of it.
Here’s some encouraging and motivational video by Joel Osteen.