It has been said that the only force that is stronger than fear is hope.
People who have hope will often do amazing things, while people who are without hope will march quietly to slaughter. One of the great tragedies of life is the fact that so many people are living without hope, just carrying on not really living, but existing.
I heard a story one time about a guy who was near the end of his financial rope. He had a great idea that he knew could save his situation, but he didn’t have the money to get started. At the urging of friends, he spent the last of his money travelling to New York City to meet with potential investors in a desperate attempt to raise capital. As he went from prospect to prospect, he felt more and more hopeless; why should they invest in someone who was ruined?
He essentially went through the motions for three days, there was only one day remaining before he would have to return home without a cent to his name. A friend back home called him at his hotel to cheer him up, and in the process told the guy that an old friend of his had just promised a million dollars to help him get started. Now, if he could only go out the next day and raise another million from investors, there would be no way that his project could fail, and he would have the means to save his financial life.
They next day, our friend was a different man when he made the rounds of his appointments, and he received firm commitments for several million more… It was only when he returned home that his friend admitted to him that he had lied!
The thing that mattered for the desperate man was that after his friend had told him the “story” he regained his faith in the future, and that played out in the way in which he had presented himself and his idea to the potential investors; everything was different when he had hope. Of course hope based on a lie is tenuous at best; how much greater is our hope in Christ who is the way, the truth and the life!
When you see a little child, you see hope, joy and unlimited potential. If only we could be like little children ourselves. But in truth, we can be like that. Whatever your circumstances might be, Jesus loves you and considers you to be important. For those who are in relationship with Him, we always have the hope of eternity with Him as well as the peace that His presence brings to us in this life if we will turn our troubles over to Him. This may not mean that life will be easy; sometimes it can be very hard in fact. It does mean that we will have perspective and hope, and with these there is no set of earthly circumstances that cannot be dealt with in Jesus Christ.
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Romans 5:5
Life Project Blog 
🙂 Thank you for this encouragement, Don. Lack of hope = the deadliest form of malnutrition.
Grace — LM
Reblogged this on The iMonastery.
Personally I believe there is a difference between what you have described here as Hope and our Christian hope, let me explain:
Hope based on a lie is not the real tangible hope Jesus spoke of – our assured hope of everlasting life is based on his resurrection and that his sacrifice has been accepted by God.
The hope described in the million dollar illustration is really an emotional response to positive news that changes attitude.
Here is the other hope reflected in Christ:
During world war 2 a young German man was conscripted but refused to wear the uniform and refused to fight because of his firmly held faith – his letter to his family written the night before he was executed reflected on the assurance of the reward that awaits those with faith.
This letter is still available but it really illustrate what we as Christians are ready to sacrifice for our hope in Christ.
So if I lose everything will I lose or shed my faith? If I have no money, no means to care for my family will it rob my of my faith and devotion?
I am confident we would all answer the same way but that response is not the emotional support of the million dollar con rather it is assured and based on our faith in Jesus role as humankinds saviour.
Really interesting and thought provoking piece.
Well brother, based on your comment, I’d say the million dollar con has done its job very nicely today. Thank you for a wonderful comment!
Lovely post, Don!! Always seen children without “failure” in their vocabulary. So often they “fail” at something and never even realise, because while they are “failing” they notice something else to explore. Not getting there first time (or the hundredth time) is just a way of life.
Of course they have to be educated, so off they all go and come back fully cognisant of what failure is.
And then they learn how to fail.
And then they bump into God presented as theology and Church and religion – and it all gets very complicated!
Yes, complicated. Thanks for the idea 🙂
When people lose their faith, they can still hope. I have never personally known anyone who lost their faith who liked it. They wanted their faith back. I always tell them, “You can still hope. Some day the faith will come back. But in the mean time, hope.”
Hope is surely the key in those situations; thank you!
Sadly, hope does not “spring eternal,” It can be cruelly extinguished in this life by those who have no fear of God nor of their fellow human beings!