Hope and Faith

Various forms of the word hope populate my writing and speaking. I only noticed this because as I was reading through something that I had just written I saw the word ‘hopefully’ used repeatedly. I think this says something about my outlook on life.

Hope and faith are two different things to me. Hope is a desire, or possibly a wish, an outcome we find pleasing. While faith is trust in that which we believe to be true. Faith we count on, while hope can be tenuous.

My faith is in Jesus Christ’s plan, his work, his forgiveness, his life. My hope is then in his plan for me in this world, but when it comes down to it, I do not know exactly what the plan is for me in the world. Will I get sick, or hurt, be poor, be wealthy, be more educated, be well liked, be hated, be stressed, be relaxed, live in Milwaukee, live in Europe, etc.? I don’t know. I hope things go a certain way, indeed I pray from things to go a certain way, but to count on anything is to say I know exactly what God has planned beyond what he has made known through Jesus. And I hope I never do that!