We need hope to live. Without hope we are dead already. Hope is the vision of what will be when things are better, when things are good. Without vision, the people perish. Hope enables us to envision the new day that is coming and gives power to endure until that time comes.

Hope is often used as a wimpy word. We use the word hope when we mean the word wish. We say, "I hope it won’t rain," when we know it is wishful thinking. Wishes confuse us. Hope grounds us in what God has promised. The symbol for hope has been the anchor. The anchor keeps you from drifting away. You may move around with the tide and the storm, but the anchor keeps you fastened. Hope is like an anchor. In the shifts and storms of life, we remain centered and focused as long as there is hope. Without hope we drift away. Where is your anchor? Where is your hope?

Some anchors are stronger than others. Some reasons for hope are stronger than others. Do we hope in our own ability or power? We will be disappointed. Do we hope in our retirement accounts to live the good life in our golden years? Not after Enron. Can we say with the psalmist: Some trust in chariots and some trust in horses but we trust in the name of the Lord our God (Ps 20: 7)?

In verse 3, Peter speaks of a living hope, through the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead. What is that living hope? It is eternal life in heaven. It is one of the first things Peter mentions and used to be one of the first things ministers talked about when sharing the Gospel. We have a hope of eternal life, a place where tears are gone and our hopes are realized. We are promised a living hope that is greater than what the world can give and greater than what the world can understand.

Have you noticed that preachers don’t talk about heaven much any more? It is as if we are more sophisticated than people used to be. Talk of heaven makes us sound too simple. We hear people saying, "I don't want pie in the sky when I die by and by. I want something sound on the ground while I'm still around. Do you really believe this heaven stuff?" Yes, I do.

By the way, Christian faith is something sound for us now, as Peter reminds us a few verses down. During trials, the hope of heaven anchors us and helps us endure trials. But God does promise heaven. He does promise an end to sin an suffering and death and an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, where God will wipe away all tears. The descriptions of heaven in the Bible are fantastic, but the more we consider our hope, the stronger it is, even if we cannot answer all the doubter’s questions.

We have lost several people to death in these last few months. The wounds are fresh. How do you go on? When you grieve, you think the only thing that will ease your pain is the hope of seeing them again. You wish you could have one more conversation, one more car ride, one more smile and the squeeze of a hand. But death ends all that. The loved one is not coming back. You wonder how to live without them.

This is where the power of the living hope carries us through the days and nights. We will see our loved ones again, if like us they have that inheritance that can never perish. We have hope that union with our loved ones and union with Christ never dies because of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

There are many things we go through that are unbearable without the living hope we have in Christ. We endure a difficult relationship. It is so painful. But we have hope for God’s Spirit to move and intercede for us in this life as well as the next. So we endure a little longer. How long can we wait? Longer than we ever would have thought possible because of the hope that God has given us.

We know about suffering, don’t we? We know about grief and illness and pain. We know about problems in relationship, hostility and persecution. What do we do? We remember that our faith is more valuable than gold. The living hope is an anchor that will hold us fast until the storms of life calm.

So when the going gets tough, remember what God has for you in heaven, and his promises for you now. When the going gets rough, remember that God has you in mind; his plan of the ages is for you. We need this hope to endure trials here.