Hope

The other day someone asked me why I believed in God?, why I was a Christian?, what makes my belief the right one?

It is not everyday someone brings that up, as a matter in fact I think that sometimes Christians avoid those questions because they don't really know how to answer them. I thought about it for a second and my answer was simple really. But along with the simple answer comes the background and basis for my answer.
When I am asked the question why?, my initial answer comes in the form of one word: HOPE.

Everything I believe in, stand for and live out is because of hope. When I first think of how I can explain this I think back to when someone once gave me their answer to the question of why? Someone once told me that the reason they believed what they did and the reason they lived for God was because they had not found anything else that they felt was true or better. They told me that they had read and researched other religions and had found nothing better, they had sought out other truths and found none. This of course is the shortened version of what I was told. I remember that day specifically though and I remember leaving my talk with that person with a different perspective. I didn't feel like that was the answer I wanted though, so I prayed about it and the answer God gave me was hope. But what does that mean? How can one word describe what I believe in, what I stand for, what I live for? So I continued to seek more to better understand, what God was showing.

If you look at any other religion or belief you will not find hope. I heard a sermon awhile ago and in it the pastor talked about "isms". There are lots of them and he brought up some of the more known ones. Knowing these helped me understand that hope is why I believe what I do. Here is a basic description of the “isms” from the talk I heard.

Atheism - the belief that there is no God. There is certainly no hope in that, you are just living on your own and whatever happens, happens.
Deism - this is the belief that there is a God and that he created everything but then he just left. An example I've heard is that deism is like God as a bad father; he left for good, doesn't write you and doesn't care about you. Again, there is no hope in this; I mean this is practically a version of atheism.
Pantheism - This belief is that there is a general energy that connects all people. That God is in everything. Well with that there is no separation between good and evil, which doesn't really make much sense. How can there be hope if God is everything.
Theism - This is the belief that there is a God, but you reach heaven by deeds. The harder you try, the more you do, the closer you come to reaching heaven. Everyone fails in life at some point, so how can there be hope if every time you fail you feel distant from God and must do more to get closer.

That is my brief explanation of those "isms". I am not a perfect writer or researcher, but with what I know, it is very clear that there is no hope in anything but the God I believe in. The God that sent His son, DOWN to us, to die for us. When Jesus died on the cross and rose again, He was giving everyone hope. Hope for a better life, and hope for an eternal life. Without the crucifixion, the bible means nothing. If Jesus had not died for us, then we would all be under the old laws and have no hope. But HE DID and that is what I believe. I believe that when something goes wrong in my life, it is okay, because I know that I have a father that forgives and a father that gives me hope through everything. And until I find something else that has truth and hope and a God that would sacrifice His son for me and everyone else, that is my belief; what I live for.

I thought about this some more and I came up with a challenge for someone that would question this. I would challenge someone to plan their life. To make out a schedule of what they were going to do, when they were going to do it and basically make a life plan or even a 2-week plan/schedule. Then after a certain amount of time I would see how it went, see if everything was perfect and to plan. It wouldn't be, because even when we plan our lives things happen; tragedies, turns in the road, success and failure, and all kinds of things can mess up our plans. And without the belief of Jesus Christ and the hope He gives us, when something goes wrong, it can feel like the end of the world. But God, the God I believe in, He doesn't disappoint. When you surrender your life to God and live for him, there is always hope and never disappointment. God may bring things in our lives that are painful, saddening, and not understandable, but if you continue to walk with him, He will lead you to things that are joyful, exciting and in hindsight, understandable. That is hope. Lots of things happen in life but I believe God is always in control and through everything, there is God's great promise of hope in our lives.

I also looked up what hope is defined as and this is what it is. Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one’s life. Hope is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best.

So far all I have mentioned is hope, but there is so much more to my beliefs and to Christianity, but when I am asked the question why?, that is my answer: HOPE. But don't take my word for it, search out your answer and see what God tells you, because even though a lot of us believe the same thing, God impacts us and meets us in different ways and places.