Did you know there is a science to hope? It falls into the genre of positive psychology. And here’s the good news: hope is a choice.
We feel the tension In the world today. This has caused hope to decrease and loneliness to increase. The pathways we once took to build the kingdom aren’t necessarily the ones we need to take moving forward. It is often enough to infect us with ministry paralysis.
Chan Hellman is the leading researcher on the science of hope.
“Hope is not a wish,” Hellman says. “Hope is about taking action to achieve goals. A wish is having a goal that we desire, but we don’t have any control or strategies to achieve it. It’s strategic planning. It’s setting goals. It’s identifying how to get there from here, and how to motivate people do to that work. That’s the essence of hope.”
His basic framework is this:
- Set goals
- Define pathways to the goals
- Strengthen your will power
His research shows that the biggest barrier to hope is trauma such as pandemics, toxic stress, witnessing violence, and sudden death of a loved one. All of that leads to anxiety, depression, PTSD, and insecure attachment styles.
In other words, we’ve got a lot of healing to do. But we must choose hope as we heal. It will not only heal us; it will spread to others.
Theologically, hope is when we align our will with God’s will. We don’t always know how that journey will turn out but we set the goal to make this world better and recalibrate our plans accordingly.
As we choose hope, let us renew our minds by looking at it through new eyes. God does the transforming and is already at work! Let us look at the world and our call to love our neighbor through His eyes. Let us see hope arise through our brokenness. And remember you are loved beyond measure.
Until Everyone Hears,
P.S. – If you were in worshp Sunday, you heard from Savannah Banta about her upcoming mission trips. If you’d like to donate to her efforts, you can do so here: https://give.cru.org/1216620
