Friends: Hope in Christ operates beyond all doubt. See below.

Blessings, Bob

P.S. – Happy birthday 10-21 to my favorite editor, Pam Walters.

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Spirituality Column #988

October 21, 20225

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Unconditional Hope

By Bob Walters

“Always be prepared … to give the reason for the hope you have.” – 1 Peter 3:15

Prior to coming to Christ, attending church, and reading the Bible – all when I was 47 years old – I had attended enough weddings that I had one Bible verse down pat, from 1 Corinthians 13: “And now these three remain, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

I would not have known in those pre-Christian days that it was verse 13, or that Paul wrote it, or that it was a letter to a mess of a church in Corinth, or much of anything else about the New Testament. Well, I knew the Gospels were Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and that 1 Corinthians 13 was the “Love Chapter.” But that’s it.

Wouldn’t you know that my first day in church as an adult, the sermon was about I Corinthians 13, the crescendo of which was wonderful preacher Russ Blowers – on September 2, 2001, celebrating his 50^th anniversary of service to East 91^st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis – laying out the following about verse 13:

“Faith is about the past, hope is about the future, and love is about right now, in the present. That is why it is most important.” Or words to that effect.

For reasons I could not even guess, that line struck me as the most rational, graspable, philosophically divine Bible explanation I had ever heard.  And remember, at that point, I knew virtually nothing about the Bible. Raised in the Episcopal Church in the 1960s and serving as an altar boy, I knew the Book of Common Prayer, the Nicene Creed, the communion service (Holy Eucharist), and when to ring the bell. That’s it.

The Bible, writ large, remained opaque in my understanding until I was 47. But that day with Russ in the pulpit, something clicked in my soul.  I call it my “Awake Date,” not as a boast, but as thanks for where life in Christ has led me from then until now.

Russ’s “argument” was simple. The past is where we have seen and trusted God’s presence in life and Creation, giving us faith.  We haven’t seen the future, but our faith in what has been leads us to hope in what will be.  And love is what we know right now, the present of God’s presence and life that guides us moment to moment.

That put God in my life right now. God was, is, and always will be present. I believed, and tears welled in my eyes.  I knew this was truth; moreover, that truth existed, and that it existed in the person of Jesus Christ.  I can’t define another’s hope in Jesus, but this is the reason for the hope that I have, and I want to tell everyone.

Last week I wrote about God’s unconditional love not being a transaction but a personal, divine experience. We strive for that in our humanity but only God does it perfectly: an always present relationship with God through Jesus who covers our sins.

Today I’d like to turbocharge the meaning of “hope” up from a conditional doubt about the future to an unconditional, steadfast divine gift of God’s truth, as real as love.

Faith offers proof from the past; we have seen it, thought about it, and know it.  Hope on the other hand often bears a tacit burden of uncertainty.  Because we have not yet seen, we are forced to consider what we “hope for” to be eternal reality dangling by an un-securely tethered cord into this life’s as-yet unseen future. I.e., “What if?”

Hebrews 11:1 says “Faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see.” I may hope, with legitimate doubt, about this life’s twists and turns. But divinely, my hope assures God loves, Jesus is King, and the Spirit abides.

Unconditionally.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) will publish column #1,000 January 13, 2026 … Lord willing.