Hope

So, I was asked to give a talk last Sunday on the topic of Hope. I am sorry it has taken me so long to post it ... I lost track of time! :)(Note: a lot of the scripture references are from the Book of Mormon)

HOPE

"We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all me; indeed we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul - We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things." Thirteenth Article of Faith

So many things mentioned in this Article of Faith are things that we can apply to our lives. What I want to focus on today is HOPE. I find it interesting that we don't really talk much about hope. Yes we talk about FAITH and CHARITY, but what about HOPE?

First off, what is the definition of HOPE? I went to me huge dictionary and looked it up. There were something like 12 different definitions, but the one that really grabbed me was #6. "to look forward to with desire and a reasonable confidence." Did you catch that? A reasonable confidence. I had never thought of hope in that context.

Elder Steven E Snow spoke on the subject of hope in the priesthood session of last April's General Conference. He had some great examples of how we "hope".

"Sometimes we hope for things of which we have no control over." i.e. the weather, our favorite sports team winning a game, etc. "other times our hopes can lead to dreams which can inspire us and lead us to action. If we hope to do better in school, that hope can be realized by dedicated study and sacrifice."

Lets ask ourselves - How do we use the word hope in our lives? Do we pin our hopes on things we have no control over, or are we more proactive?

I would like to point out something about hope. Throughout the scriptures hope is always paired with two other thing: FAITH and CHARITY. A great example of this is found in Alma.

Alma 7:24
And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works.

(as a small tangent) Why is that? Why does faith+hope+charity= good works? When I think about this I also thing about Mosiah 2:17 "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

Again, ask yourselves - when I am feeling hopeless, how likely is it that I will look outside of myself/situation and see the needs of others?(end of tangent)

Now, going back to faith/hope/charity. I think that it is important to look at the definition we have in the scriptures of faith.

Alma 32:21
And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.

Lets go back to the definition of hope again. "TO LOOK FORWARD TO WITH DESIRE AND A REASONABLE CONFIDENCE". Without hope, there is no faith.

Next I want to discuss the hope/Charity connection. As I was reading though some of the scripture references for hope I got a new perspective on Charity. We always talk about needing to have charity and how important it is, but these next scriptures gave new light on the subject for me.

Moroni 7:45-47
45And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

46Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—

47But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

So me these scriptures point out something very important. Every thing we have from this life will fail. EXCEPT Charity. If we have charity(being the pure love of Christ), we have hope as we move beyond this life, because charity will NEVER FAIL.

Earlier in the chapter, we are also specifically given a reason for hope.

Moroni 7:41
And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.

What better thing is there to hope for than the atonement?

My testimony: I know that this gospel is the true gospel of Christ. I can testify that he is our redeemer and our savior. I could never deny these things. I know that He loves us so much that he was crucified, and then was resurrected so that some day we will be able to follow in his footsteps and be with Him and our Heavenly Father again. I know this and have hope in this. I am grateful for that hope.

I would like to leave you with one last scripture.

Romans 15:13
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.