Does hope really precede faith? Someone may argue, faith comes first, and then because of faith, you gain hope. Well, that does happen, because we go from faith to faith, but, hope does precede faith. The Bible says that the message that we preach is that of hope in Jesus Christ for eternal life.
Titus 1:1-3
1Paul,
a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of
God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after
godliness;
2In
hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the ages
began;
3But
has in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto
me according to the commandment of God our Savior;
When we preach the Gospel which is the Good News of the hope that we have through Jesus Christ, it causes the hearer to have hope in God, hope in salvation, hope in deliverance, hope in eternal life. We express our hope, and it becomes their hope. Once this hope has been birthed in their heart faith comes to life only as they confess with their mouth and believe in their hearts. The Bible says, how can they be saved if they have not heard! Hope springs up in the heart of the listener when we preach Christ Jesus! If you are not preaching the hope of the gospel, don't expect many conversions! People are hopeless in this world, lost, and trying to get by the best that they can. The Bible says for us to always be ready to give an answer for the hope that we have in us.
Once hope has sprang up within our hearts, and we add the action of faith by confessing Christ with our mouth, and believing with our hearts we are saved! We had hope first, and that hope lead us to faith! How did we get that hope, we got it when someone preached the GOSPEL! The preaching of the gospel brings hope to mankind! Once salvation grips our souls through the faith that sprung up from that hope, then even more hope floods our hearts...and this hope leads to an even greater faith, faith that will be expressed through our ACTIONS...as the Bible declares, we go from glory to glory!
It is like a never ending cycle. Hope leads to faith, and then the faith gives us even more hope, which leads to greater faith, and that leads to an even greater hope... Be a hope giver to others! We are called to hold out the HOPE of the Gospel!
