I recently read this statement: “Just a little bit of hope will keep you going in life.”

I believe the truthfulness of that statement. If you have hope you can continue in life. If you don’t have hope, life has little meaning.

At the direction of God, Jeremiah sent a letter to the Jewish exiles in Babylon. While it contained a number of instructions, the main point of the letter had to do with hope. Jeremiah wanted to give the people of Israel a reason to live in captivity. He wanted them to know that God knew who they were and what they needed.

That kind of hope will carry you through life.

These are the words of hope from Jeremiah:

“For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord , and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile” (Jeremiah 29:11-14).

God is the God of hope. We can count on Him. He wants to give all of us hope and a future. In Christ, He gives us the greatest hope imaginable.

Paul said that our hope is laid up for us in heaven. It is a done deal. We can be sure of it.

For all of us, the time will come when nothing will be more important than knowing that Christ has gone before us and is preparing a place for us. He has promised to be with us and to never forsake us. He has promised that He will be with us always, even to the end of age.

Because of Christ, we can face tomorrow. Because of Christ, we can go on with life, knowing that He has provided for us all that we need.

I thank God for hope.

This is what I can say: “Because of Christ, there are two things I have never experienced. I have never been alone and I have never been without hope.” To know Christ is to experience hope.

I thank God for the living hope we have in Christ.