by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
Many people only see the present circumstances, dislike them, and despair of life. They wish things were better and different, but don’t expect them to improve. I love having hope and confident expectations, because I know that circumstances change or they change us. With a fellowship with Christ, “we” are in this together, and He will help me turn the circumstance into a stepping stone of spiritual growth. It all works together for good (Romans 8:28). Each test makes the final reward more certain that we (Jesus and I) will win the eternal prize.<\/p>\n
Hope is certainty, not a mere unrealistic wish. Hope says to keep going. It will be more than worth it. Hope has you visualizing what that day will be like, what the moment of eternal victory will be like, and what it will be like to see God’s face. Hope is such a special element to hold in the heart. With Jesus, it will be manageable here, with peace and love tempering the heart, and with a magnificent ending.<\/p>\n
I love having hope based upon the evidence of Jesus and His resurrection. Do you have meaningful hope? You can, and you should pursue it. Don’t waste time on aimless conduct! Study the evidence of the gospel of Jesus Christ!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Terry Wane Benton Many people only see the present circumstances, dislike them, and despair of life. They wish things were better and different, but don’t expect them to improve. I love having hope and confident expectations, because I know that circumstances change or they change us. With a fellowship with Christ, “we” are in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[502],"class_list":["post-87546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-hope"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":93432,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-we-have-eternal-life-permenantly\/","url_meta":{"origin":87546,"position":0},"title":"Do we have eternal life permanently?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 24, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Question: If we have eternal life, doesn't that mean we have it permanently? Answer: We have eternal life in promise. Just as formerly, we had eternal condemnation in promise. The promise of eternal damnation is to the unbeliever who can change their destiny by belief and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91836,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-we-have-eternal-life-do-we-have-it-permanently\/","url_meta":{"origin":87546,"position":1},"title":"If we have eternal life, do we have it permanently?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If we have eternal life, doesn't that mean we have it permanently? Answer: We have eternal life in promise. Just as formerly, we had eternal condemnation in promise. The promise of eternal damnation is to the unbeliever who can change their destiny by belief and repentance. Change your destiny\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21186,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-faith-and-hope-still-exist-in-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":87546,"position":2},"title":"Will faith and hope still exist in heaven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question from I Corinthians 13 about faith, hope, and love with the greatest of these being love. I have led public prayers in which I prayed something like this \"to bless us with faith, hope, and love. For one day we will close our eyes in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35745,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-hope-of-his-calling-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":87546,"position":3},"title":"What is “the hope of His calling”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear brother, Thank you for your web site. It has been most helpful to me as I struggle to share with a person who believes in \"Once Saved Always Saved.\" Can you enlighten me as to what it means in Ephesians: \"the hope of His calling\"? Does it refer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10553,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-hope-of-his-calling\/","url_meta":{"origin":87546,"position":4},"title":"What is “the hope of His calling?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear brother, Thank you for your web site. It has been most helpful to me as I struggle to share with a person who believes in \"Once Saved Always Saved.\" Can you enlighten me as to what it means in Ephesians: \"the hope of His calling\"? Does it refer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50868,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-person-have-faith-without-hope-or-hope-without-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":87546,"position":5},"title":"Can a person have faith without hope or hope without faith?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can a person have faith without hope or hope without faith? Answer: Faith is what a person trusts to be true. Hope is what a person expects to happen. The answer to your question then heavily depends on what topics are being believed or hoped for. A person could\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87546\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}