Maybe it’s time we start washing our mouths out with hope.
“Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” – Andy Dufresne, in his letter to Red after escaping from Shawshank State Prison.
Hope is an often used, undervalued, four-letter word.
Similar to our most generic and stale profanities, the word “hope” is often verbalized when we aren’t paying close attention to what we say.
“I hope it doesn’t rain today.”
“I hope I can kick this cough before tomorrow.”
“I hope 5pm comes sooner than it did yesterday.”
But, just as curse words can be used when our venting vocabulary has given up trying, the word “hope” is flippantly thrown around anytime we long for something in our future. And yet, in both situations — whether it’s a curse or a hope — four-letter words are better used with restraint.
The words themselves should carry much more weight than we let them.
Careless overuse will spoil the impact of a properly placed, passionately articulated, four-letter word. Not only in the interactions we might have with our neighbor, but also in the sanctification that is taking place in our hearts.
Though the word “hope” is often expressed with more certainty than wishful thinking, the frequency of its usage suggests we have either forgotten, or not yet understood, the hidden power held inside the word.
Especially, when what we say we hope for has anything to do with a word God has already spoken.
Hoping in the Lord is an unwavering expectancy in what God has said in congruence with who God is. There is no wishing involved. There is no matter of the stars having to align. We believe, when God says something, it is a done deal. His will will be done. Though we might use the word “hope” in vain, hoping in the Lord is not a vain endeavor.
His word is more guaranteed than tomorrow’s sunrise.
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Jason Martin 