So far we have noted that if we are to rise above the crisis during hard times, we must tighten up our thinking and calm down our feelings.
In our last installment in this series Peter encourages us to...
Look Ahead in Hope
Hope is always important, but in difficult times the hope we have in Christ anchors our soul… which means the difference between thriving or merely enduring. (Peter gives much consideration to hope in this epistle. Along with our passage in this series see 1:3 and 3:15.)
Hope is essential for good spiritual health, mental health – and yes, even physical health, as studies have shown.
If you know the cherished movie It’s A Wonderful Life, you may remember this famous exchange between the angel Clarence and his supervising angel:
Senior Angel: A man down on Earth needs our help.
Clarence: Splendid! Is he sick?
Senior Angel: No, worse. He’s discouraged.
If you recall the movie you’ll remember that this conversation occurs because the main character, George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart), is about to give up on life because he feels that he’s been nothing but a failure.
We can scarcely live... and most certainly cannot thrive, without hope. As the book of Proverbs tells us, hope deferred makes the heart sick.
(Prov 13:12)
There is so much to say about this subject – both biblically and psychologically – that within the limits of a short post I hardly know where to start (or stop!).
That said, I want to give you some psychological insights into the importance of hope, followed by biblical observations.
Here are four important findings from psychological studies about hope:
Hope improves persistence by encouraging us to try more strategies when facing obstacles.
Hope reduces stress and depression by changing how we interpret setbacks, making them seem temporary and solvable.
Hope enhances problem solving by promoting flexible thinking and creating neural pathway generation (that is, new ways of thinking).
Hope predicts well-being as shown in studies which link higher hope with greater life satisfaction and psychological health.
Biblically, there are three terms that we need to keep bound together when we find ourselves facing a challenging stretch of life. These realities are trials (hard times), perseverance (endurance), and hope.
Listen to what James tells us in chapter one of his epistle, verses 2-4:
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
For the Christian, hard times are never random, never capricious. Trials are sent into our lives to create endurance... endurance which is intended to mature us and establish Christ-likeness in us.
That is to say, our trials are purposeful.
It is hope – the hope built upon faith in Christ that forms the context in which this trials/endurance process James talks about plays out. Without this faith-based hope there is no way we will be able to consider hard times as “pure joy,” as James instructs us.
The book of Hebrews calls this hope an anchor for the soul (6:19). Just the thing we need in hard times!
In concluding this series let me just say that hard times are... well... hard! They stretch us, bend us, and reshape us.
But they need not break us.
Peter tells us how we can prevent that from happening. We can learn to tighten up our thinking, calm down our feelings, and apply the promises of hope that are given to us in the Word in days of difficulty.
That is Peter’s prescription for tough times.
Til next time,
