One has to be careful not to fall into the trap of negative talk. Yes, there are many, many challenges. Many things that don’t work. Then it’s easy to join in with the people who complain all day.

Often, because of such conversations, we become so discouraged that we don’t see a solution. The future is getting darker and darker. The net effect is that one’s hope walks out the back door. It’s a hopeless place to be.

In one of his songs, Afrikaans singer Jo Black asks what hope is. Then he answers by saying: Hope is the wish that the sun will rise again, it’s that peace will find us, it’s the spirit of a man crying out. Then he pleads: Just bring back hope.

If hope is gone, if there’s nothing left to look forward to, if there’s no longing that things will get better around the corner, why would one hold out and keep trying?

One needs a living faith. A faith that brings life. A faith that turns away from the heaviness of life towards a living thing or someone waiting around the corner. This living hope helps you to get up and try again.

This reminds me of when, after His death and resurrection, Jesus appeared to two of His disciples walking to Emmaus. These guys were completely discouraged. Their dream was shattered, their future black because the One they believed would deliver them from death was dead.

Their hope was dead. What could they look forward to now? What they believed in, their entire existence, was in pieces, and, yes, even their hope was dead.

I would’ve liked to be a fly on the wall to see the reaction of the Emmaus pilgrims when they realised that their travelling companion was actually Jesus. I would’ve liked to experience with them how dead faith was resurrected and started living.

Our faith also lives.

³Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now!

Yes, in a way, our faith died on the cross with Jesus, but thank God, it rose again from the dead with Him. Our hope lives because our Hope, Jesus, has conquered death.

What do you do with this living faith? Jo Black helps us to give life to faith: Hope, be the hope. Reach out to each other. If you’re tired, I’ll carry you. Bring back the hope. You are the light in the dark passage. You are the shining beacon on the hill. So, bring back the hope.

Go live like this now and bring the living hope to those stumbling through the world hopelessly.

Scripture
1 Peter 1:3-5

Reflection
What does your hope look like?
How can it come back to life?
How can your hope revive the hope of others?

Prayer
Father, without Jesus our hope is dead. Thank you that we can live hope. Thank you that our Hope lives. Amen.