"Hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." (Romans 5:5)

Sometimes words in the Christian vocabulary have a different meaning than they have in ordinary usage. "Hope" is one of those words.

As far as the world is concerned, to hope often means to look forward to something unseen but with no certainty of fulfillment. A man in deep financial trouble may say, "I hope everything will turn out all right," but he has no assurance that it will. His hope may be nothing but wishful thinking. The Christian hope also looks forward to something unseen, as Paul reminds us in Romans 8:24 : "Hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?" All hope deals in the realm of the future.

But what makes the Christian hope different is that it is based on the promise of the Word of God and is therefore absolutely certain. "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure" (Hebrews 6:19 NIV). Hope is "faith laying hold of God's Word and living in the present assurance of what God has promised or predicted" (Woodring). "Notice that I am using hope to mean 'certainty.' Hope in Scripture refers to future events that will happen come what may. Hope is not a delusion to buoy our spirits and keep us going forth blindly to an inevitable fate. It is the basis of all Christian living. It represents ultimate reality" (John White).

Because the believer's hope is based on God's promise, it can never lead to shame or disappointment (Romans 5:5). "Hope without God's promises is empty and futile, and often even presumptuous. But based on the promises of God, it rests upon His character and cannot lead to disappointment" (Woodring).

The Christian hope is spoken of as a good hope. Our Lord Jesus and God our Father have loved us and have given us "everlasting consolation and good hope through grace" (2 Thessalonians 2:16).

It is called a blessed hope, referring particularly to the coming of Christ: "Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13).

And it is called a living hope. "In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3 NIV).

The Christian's hope enables him to endure seemingly endless delays, tribulation, persecution, and even martyrdom. He knows that these experiences are only pinpricks compared to the coming glory.