Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do.

Patience [is] the basic constituent of Christianity . . . the power to wait, to persevere, to hold out, to endure to the end, not to transcend one’s own limitations, not to force issues by playing the hero or the titan, but to practice the virtue that lies beyond heroism, the meekness of the lamb which is led.2

character produces hope (Rom. 5:4). In the Bible the word hope does not mean “I wish” or “I want.” It means confidence in Christ’s power and confidence in God’s promises.

Faith is convicted trust, not vague belief. Faith is a placing of hopes in such a way that hope gets redefined. In the Scriptures, hope does not have the connotation of “I hope such and such will happen,” as if there is some chance it may not. No, in the Scriptures, hope is an assured trust. Our hope is Christ, and this hope will prove true; it wil