Weekend Thought: Live lives giving hope to others

Halifax Minster
Halifax Minster

Over these last few months we have seen a considerable amount of unrest across the country. There have been the difficulties of the general election and the uncertainties of Brexit.

There have been the attacks in Manchester and London. Then we have seen the tragedy of the fire at Grenfell Tower. The number of conflicts and disputes continues, not least the awful civil wars in Syria and Iraq, as well as the fight against extremists and terrorists.

There will always be challenges facing the world, our country, and our own lives. Life has always been so and will be no different as we go forward. When you start to look back, it is good to focus on the highlights and then, hopefully, learn from the lows. We need to look forward with hope. I pray that we may all have that faith, love, happiness and good health. We must always hope too, that whatever comes our way we handle it with dignity, strength and pride.

We live in a world of so much hopelessness, despair and depression. It is important to ask what is the basis for our hope. Why do we hope? People use the word ‘hope’ in a lot of different ways: ‘I hope that I get a certain gift for my birthday. I hope that I can win the lottery. I hope that scientists will find a cure for Alzheimer’s.’

We all have different hopes, but what does it mean to have Christian hope?

St Paul tells us that everything in the Bible was written so that we might have hope. By hope we become new men and women. That hope comes from a faith and belief in Jesus. We need hope but also we need to live lives that give hope to others around us.