Hope

Hope is more than just wishing or anticipating that something desired will come to fruition, it is one of the foundational principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, along with Faith and Charity.

Hope is the confident expectation of and longing for the promised blessings of righteousness. The scriptures often speak of hope as anticipation of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. In normal speech, the word hope is associated with an aspect of doubt, but in the language of the gospel "a perfect brightness of hope" means a sure expectation of salvation. Its opposite is despair, or the absence of hope.

"Whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God" (Ether 12:4).

Gospel hope is the expectation of receiving peace in this world and exaltation in the world to come. (See Doctrine and Covenants 59:23.)

"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" (Moroni 7:41).

The principle of hope extends into the eternities, but it also can sustain us through the everyday challenges of life. "Happy is he," said the Psalmist, "that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God" (Psalm 146:5). With hope, we can find joy in life. We can "have patience, and bear with . . . afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions" (Alma 34:41). We can "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life" (2 Nephi 31:20). [1]

"Hope is trust in God’s promises, faith that if we act now, the desired blessings will be fulfilled in the future. Abraham “against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations.” Contrary to human reason, he trusted God, “fully persuaded” that God would fulfill His promises of giving Abraham and Sarah a child in their old ages.

"Peace in this life is based upon faith and testimony. We can all find hope from our personal prayers and gain comfort from the scriptures. Priesthood blessings lift us and sustain us. Hope also comes from direct personal revelation, to which we are entitled if we are worthy. We also have the security of living in a time when a prophet who holds and exercises all of the keys of God’s kingdom is on the earth.

"The unfailing source of our hope is that we are sons and daughters of God and that His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, saved us from death. How can we know that Jesus truly is our Savior and Redeemer? In human terms His reality is almost undefinable, but His presence can be known unequivocally by the Spirit if we continually seek to live under the shadow of His influence. In the Book of Mormon we read the account of Aaron expounding the gospel to Lamoni’s father. He told him, 'If thou wilt bow down before God … and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the hope which thou desirest.' The old king followed this to the letter and received a witness of the truth that Aaron had imparted. As a result, he and all his household were converted and came to know the Lord.

"Our greatest hope comes from the knowledge that the Savior broke the bands of death. His victory came through His excruciating pain, suffering, and agony. He atoned for our sins if we repent. In the Garden of Gethsemane came the anguished cry, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” 10 Luke described the intensity of the agony: 'And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground.'” (Excerpted from James E. Faust, “Hope, an Anchor of the Soul,” Ensign, November 1999, 59.) [2]

Look to the Light: