The Last Thing You'll Lose

What’s the last thing you lost? I recently lost our checkbook and frantically searched the usual hideouts (drawers, shelves, couch cushions, etc.) while watching the clock click closer to my appointment. I found it in the last place I looked–the center council of the car. Of course, it had to be the last place I looked because after you find something you quit looking. A friend had to point out that simple logic to me, since I wasn’t quite bright enough to figure it out on my own. Though, I am thinking that the next time I lose something, I’m going to look in one more place after I find the item so I can say, “I found it in the second to last place I looked.”

I’m actually not interested in the last physical item you lost (though I hope you found it, that can be so frustrating). Instead, I want you to think about a value that if lost, you wouldn’t have the desire to even look for it. That value is hope. Once you lose hope, you lose everything.

I’m participating in a values table group through John Maxwell’s organization and the first value we discussed was hope. You can learn more about these groups at https://changeyourworld.com/. In my pre-assessment, I scored lowest in the value of hope. That gave me some pause. I don’t consider myself “hopeless,” but with the numerous life changes that have taken place this past year, I have struggled with hope. The uncertainty of the future for me and my family has chipped at the value of hope in my life.  

After the lesson on hope, we were challenged to write down some action steps. I decided to read a quote about hope every morning to help me focus on hope. Yesterday, I came across this quote, “Hope is the last thing ever lost.” The attribution claimed it was an Italian proverb. Whether that be the case or not, the saying grabbed me. Once you lose hope, you lose everything. Motivation vanishes. Purpose disappears. Energy seeps away. And you are left empty–hopeless. That’s a scary and dangerous place to be.

The Bible spills hope over all its pages. One of those passages is found in Romans 5:1-5 (NAS). ¹Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we also have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we celebrate in hope of the glory of God. ³And not only this, but we also celebrate in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; ⁴and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; ⁵and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

This is an eternal hope that can never be lost. No matter what is thrown at us in this life as believers in Jesus Christ, we have the sure hope that God loves us, has forgiven us, and will take us to live in His glory forever. And that hope should drive us and energize us in this life. Notice in this passage where the steel of hope is forged. It’s forged in the furnace of trial. There the metal of hope is tested and strengthened as the trials of life come against it. 

We don’t build hope in our happy places, we build in the midst of trial. There we must learn to grip the hilt of hope ever tighter and raise it up against the blows of life’s tribulations. If your hope consists of mere human desire it will crumple under the blows of this life. But if your hope consists of the steel of God’s word and the work of Jesus Christ, it will withstand whatever beating this world may bring against it. That is the hope we find in Christ. A hope that NEVER disappoints.

I’ll lose my checkbook again. I’ll lose my wallet. I’ll lose my keys and who knows what else. But I never want to lose hope. And in Christ, I never have to.