Why Should We Align Our Hope?

Exiles must continually align their hopes on God. That’s the big idea from 1 Peter 1:13. Peter writes, Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. This week we’ll answer three questions about this verse, beginning with why. Why must believers align their hopes on God?

In my study I was looking for a way to illustrate this point, so I Googled “why do tires need alignment.” I had a basic idea, but I thought, perhaps, I might fight some insight that would help communicate why we need to align our hope. It turns out, most people aren’t interested in why tires need aligning. Literally every recommendation on page 1 of my Google search was about when tires need alignment. “I don’t care why my tires need to be aligned, just tell me when and how much it costs so I can get it over with.”

That may be okay when we talk about aligning your tires, but it’s not okay when we’re talking about aligning your hope. Why do we need to align our hope? Out of everything he could have said, why is Peter’s very first command a command to hope? Let me suggest two reasons.

A.   Nobody coasts towards hope in God.

Nobody. I don’t care how much you love Jesus, how long you’ve been in church, how much you like to pray or sing, you’re not that spiritual. You coast towards hope in other things. You hope in big things like elections, petitions, supreme court nominations, negative biopsies, and vaccines. You hope in little things like a good parking space, a good night’s sleep, and a number on the scale that was lower than last week.

For this reason, Peter tells you to “set your hope” in God. It’s a conscious, deliberate, active, decision. It requires effort. And you’ll never do it without intentionality. Hope requires effort, which is why Hebrews 10:23 commands us, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” You won’t keep your hope if you hold it with a loose grip. You must hold fast. You must continually align your hope.

But even if you did coast towards hope in God, you would still need to align your hope because . . .

B.   Hope Leaks

Notice Peter’s command: “set your hope fully.” The command is not to have some hope, or to mostly hope, but to set our hope fully on the grace that’s coming. And that requires intentional effort to regularly align and realign your hope. Because hope leaks.

Here’s how this works for me. Sundays are often filled with hope. It’s the glories of singing together, the joys of preaching God’s Word (and that you gladly listen!), how you usher me into the presence of Jesus with your prayers, the way you comfort and encourage me in the little moments of masked fellowship we enjoy before and after the service. Add to that the excitement of discipling all the men in our pastoral residency program on Sunday afternoons, and the fun of Christian friendship we enjoy on Sunday nights. All these things leave me spiritually full of hope on Sundays. But then comes Monday.

I don’t like Mondays. Often I wake up discouraged. I didn’t do this or that right in the sermon. This or that person I’ve been pursuing wasn’t there. This or that member told me about a problem that’s weighing me down. Or perhaps I had unrealistic expectations about the Sunday service. No matter the reason, when I’m discouraged on a Monday morning my hope begins to leak.

Or maybe I’m just tired. Some Sundays end up being sixteen-eighteen hours of ministry, leaving me mentally and emotionally exhausted on Monday mornings. Now don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my ministry! I’m not your typical introvert. I LOVE being with you, I LOVE being with people, but all that interaction doesn’t energize me, it tires me. So Monday comes and my hope begins to leak.

What about you? How and when does your hope leak? Maybe it’s at the end of a hard day at work. Your body aches or your mind hurts, and your hope begins to leak. Or perhaps it’s another frustrating news report. Case counts are up. The poll numbers are bad. The Big Ten still isn’t having a season. Murder Hornets are making a comeback. Your hope leaks. Or you’re fighting with a family member. Your kids aren’t grateful for you and your hope leaks. You and your spouse sleep with your backs to each other and your hope leaks. Your parents don’t respect you and your hope leaks. You wake up on Monday and you’re still alone and your hope leaks. Or maybe you’re losing a battle against sin. You looked at pornography again. You gossiped again. You overate again. You lied to your wife again. You drank too much again. You cut yourself again. You said those hurtful words again. You missed your time in God’s Word again. You fell asleep during the prayer again. Your hope leaks.

Exiles must continually align their hopes on because nobody coasts toward hope in God and hope leaks.