The million-dollar question in our hearts as to whether this expectation we carry and believe that God would fulfill, is truly of divine origins or merely a product of the carnal mind can be a mental tug-of-war. The renewed Christian mind knows that to surrender is the right thing to do and that to sacrifice is the right thing to give. The heart may even fully desire this surrender and sacrifice, but this struggle of full-surrender in itself can swiftly turn into a very fleshly endeavor. Similar to how monasticism functions, where one forces thyself into a lifestyle of shutting out the world and all self-desires. Its philosophy works from the outside-in, building walls both literal and proverbial to separate them from this world, an heart beaten to be calloused to any desire of sorts, and taking all means necessary to avoid the corruptive touch of this world. This ascetic tuning of the heart and mind does not birth the Biblical hope within us. We must surely get this right, after all this hope is what is declared to be the “foundation” on which faith is built on (Hebrews 11:1). The word used for hope in this Scripture is Elpizo, meaning to “wait for salvation with joy and full confidence” (read, unwavering faith). The Biblical hope is optimism rooted in Christ and His infallible word, set apart by the trademarks of its joy, trust, resoluteness, freshness, reassurance, purposefulness and meaningfulness. But the greatest evidence of this hope is the love of God (Romans 5:5). This belief and confidence of God’s inexplicable love for us births this hope in every situation of life. Hope alone which can bring life to our barren faiths. If we walk in this sureness of God’s love, we walk in the sureness of God’s goodness. Let us not be deceived to beat ourselves down for this expectant hope that God has worked and put in us today (Philippians 2:13). Without hope faith cannot remain. Hope is the anchor to our souls. The light at the end of the tunnel. The sweet sound beckoning us to undertake the arduous journey. This hope is not futile, it isn’t covetousness, it isn’t greed or a pipe dream. Hope is the manifest reciprocation to God loving us. Hope is the unseen, intangible yet the most authentic response to the love of God. We joyfully hope because He freely loves us.