The Glass Half-? and the Case for HOPE

I recently was asked to speak at the memorial service for my brother-in-law.  Steve was a great guy who was genuinely concerned about friends and family.  One of the ways I described him was by showing a glass half-filled.  I mentioned how Steve was a guy who always seemed to see the glass half-full.
 
To listen to him talk, you would never know that he struggled with depression.  He was the eternal optimist.  There was always a job to do or a place to go.  There was always tomorrow.  The sun would come up tomorrow.  Although he struggled with the darkness, when you were around him, you always felt like you were walking in light.   At the center of who he was, there seemed to be light.
 
As I considered this more closely, I was drawn to the idea of the line on the glass formed by the water.  So often, the difference between the glass half full and half-empty is HOPE.  How you view the present stands on this one thing, “HOPE”.   Hope is future.  Hope isn’t found in the past or the present.  No one HOPES for something that has already happened.  It is about tomorrow. 
 
We’re built to hope to because we were made by God IN his image.  We’re not what we appear to be.  We’re spirit beings and future is our DNA.   That’s another reason that “Happily Ever After” resonates with us in books and stories.  1 Cor 13:12 says,  “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
 
Hope is such a powerful thing.  But unless the thing we hope for is utterly certain, we can be easily disappointed.

• Everyone of us has faced dark days where grief and despair have sought to overwhelm us.  But for hope….
• Each of us has faced loss and felt alone to the point of brokenness.  But for hope….
• Politicians utter promises and statesmen speak of brighter futures. While they may inspire us for a moment, we realize their words are just that.  But for hope….

 
As for me…
 
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
 
On Christ the Solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand.       
 
The Bible has much to say about hope:
Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope.
 
Psalm 42:11, “Why so downcast oh my soul and why so disturbed within me.  Put your hope in God for I will ever praise him, my Savior and my God.
 
Is 40:31, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings of EAGLES;  they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.
 
When all else is gone and the end of all things has come, the Bible says there will still be three things that remain: Faith, Hope, and Love
 
Hebrews 11:1, brings two of these three everlasting qualities into one verse:  “Faith is the promise of things hoped for.  The evidence of things unseen.
 
Hope is the essence of my faith, which is the center of who I am.  Because of FAITH, I am assured of my HOPE and that always lets me see everything in light of the glass half full. 
 
Romans 15:13, “May the God of all HOPE fill you with joy and peace as you trust in HIM so that you may overflow with HOPE in the power of His Holy Spirit?