“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts your hearts in every good work and word.”
2 Thessalonians 2:16,17 NASB
Paul wrote to the Corinthian church that there are three foundations on which we build our life in Christ: faith, hope, and love. The writer of Hebrews tells us faith is the substance of things hoped for. The danger of not holding an active and living hope is the drifting that occurs, ultimately leading to a shipwreck. So, our admonition is to continually guard this hope through the assurance of the Word God has promised.
Paul wrote above that this good hope by grace gives us eternal comfort, that is, to comfort and strengthen our hearts unto every good work and word. In other words, hope keeps us actively engaged in serving God and His purpose for our lives. We know Proverbs 29:18: ‘Without a vision, the people cast off restraint.’ As we saw last week, hope is the anchor of our soul. So, hope is also a restraint.
The Discovery Bible Word Study Notes summarize the definition of hope ~
hope (1680/elpís) is active, confident waiting as God's Word in us matures (consummates) "through love" (Gal 5:6). Hope is the "interim" period that extends from the time faith is inbirthed by God to its expression through divine love.
Biblical hope (1680/elpís) carries God-inwrought confidence that goes with His work of faith (Heb 11:1). Obeying faith, in the process of hope, consummates into the active expression of God's love (cf. 1 Cor 13:13).
Hope runs on God's timetable, not ours. God first births the persuasion of His will (desire) in the believer by His work of faith (Heb 11:1; cf. 1 Jn 5:4; cf. 2307/thélēma). This may find immediate temporal fulfillment, but this active waiting can extend into the distant future (even heaven, Heb 11:39).
Every generation faces its own pressure, its own cultural tribulation designed to discourage (dis.courage) and give its hope up. Hope relinquished is work undone.
We learn from the church in Sardis in chapter three of Revelation the danger of incomplete works in the sight of God. Their admonition was to wake up and strengthen what remained so that it did not die. They were exhorted to remember what they had received and heard and to keep it. {(“keep intact") emphasizes the end-outcome ("preserving to the end"), successfully presenting at the end what was guarded. 5083 (tēreō) involves "active and strenuous care to preserve, not merely watching over" (WS, 565) which ensures the final state of safe-keeping.}
This good hope is to be a living Hope. To be good and living demands feeding upon the promises of God and resting confidently in His love to keep hope alive. A living hope is always about the Father's business.