Faith and hope.
They are talked about a number of times in the scriptures. Paul speaks of them in various forms and fashions in nearly every book he authored in the New Testament.
I have read much and thought much about faith and hope, the integral nature of their relationship, the very meaning of their words. It has always been a notion of mine that they were one in the same- a belief in something.
But as I was reading my scriptures this morning I came across this verse,that, when I read it, painted a clear picture (at least in my mind) of the relationship of hope and faith.
"And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this becasue of your faith in him according to the promise." (Moroni 7:41)
I thought about it for a bit, and this is what I came up with. You'll have to forgive me for the somewhat juvenile analogy - but sometimes that is how my brain grasps things the best. :)
Our testimony is a car. Faith is the engine. Hope is the steering wheel.
We choose the car we like, then we accessorize it to our taste. In turn, we choose the church with the doctrine we like, then we fill in our testimony with the things we like: the Atonement, Heavenly Father, healing, tithing, service, Sunday service, miracles, prayer, priesthood etc.
We can be comfortable in our car, even love our car, but without an engine, our car will take us no where. It will just sit there, looking good.
We can be comfortable in our church, even love it, but without faith, we will not be moved to action. Faith is the belief that the elements of our testimony are real and true, even though we cannot or feel immediate proof. Faith in what we believe moves us to align ourselves with our beliefs, not the other way around. With faith we move and grow. Without faith, we will simply sit and go no where.
A car with a with an engine is great- especially if you know where you want to go. In order to reach your destination, you need to steer the car, so that it moves in the proper direction. Without a steering wheel you could probably get through Nevada, but you would be lost in the Rocky Mountains.
Hope is the desired destination or outcome. We hope to live with God again. We hope we can find peace through prayer. We hope that following the commandments. Our hope points us in the direction of where we want faith will take us.
Would our faith move us to action that would bring us to a hopeless conclusion? No. We hope that we will reach our highest potential, be with our families forever and achieve ultimate joy. And we have faith that as we follow the gospel in word and deed we will make it there.
We believe in Jesus (testimony). We have faith that he died for us(so we follow Him.) and it is our hope that, because of our testimony and our faith in action, we will become like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and have eternal life.
Again here is the verse: And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this becasue of your faith in him according to the promise."
I have read this verse many times in my life, and this morning it took on a whole new meaning. (Personal revelation- a topic worthy of not only a blog post, but volumes of books written about it.)
Testimony is the car. Faith is the engine. Hope is the destination.
What do I hope for? How will I get there? What will take me there?
What do you hope for? How are you going to get there? What will take you there?
For me, I know what I hope for. I have faith that my Savior and Father in Heaven will guide me there. And I believe that the doctrines I have a testimony of will carry me through.
How about you?
They are talked about a number of times in the scriptures. Paul speaks of them in various forms and fashions in nearly every book he authored in the New Testament.
I have read much and thought much about faith and hope, the integral nature of their relationship, the very meaning of their words. It has always been a notion of mine that they were one in the same- a belief in something.
But as I was reading my scriptures this morning I came across this verse,that, when I read it, painted a clear picture (at least in my mind) of the relationship of hope and faith.
"And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this becasue of your faith in him according to the promise." (Moroni 7:41)
I thought about it for a bit, and this is what I came up with. You'll have to forgive me for the somewhat juvenile analogy - but sometimes that is how my brain grasps things the best. :)
Our testimony is a car. Faith is the engine. Hope is the steering wheel.
We choose the car we like, then we accessorize it to our taste. In turn, we choose the church with the doctrine we like, then we fill in our testimony with the things we like: the Atonement, Heavenly Father, healing, tithing, service, Sunday service, miracles, prayer, priesthood etc.
We can be comfortable in our car, even love our car, but without an engine, our car will take us no where. It will just sit there, looking good.
We can be comfortable in our church, even love it, but without faith, we will not be moved to action. Faith is the belief that the elements of our testimony are real and true, even though we cannot or feel immediate proof. Faith in what we believe moves us to align ourselves with our beliefs, not the other way around. With faith we move and grow. Without faith, we will simply sit and go no where.
A car with a with an engine is great- especially if you know where you want to go. In order to reach your destination, you need to steer the car, so that it moves in the proper direction. Without a steering wheel you could probably get through Nevada, but you would be lost in the Rocky Mountains.
Hope is the desired destination or outcome. We hope to live with God again. We hope we can find peace through prayer. We hope that following the commandments. Our hope points us in the direction of where we want faith will take us.
Would our faith move us to action that would bring us to a hopeless conclusion? No. We hope that we will reach our highest potential, be with our families forever and achieve ultimate joy. And we have faith that as we follow the gospel in word and deed we will make it there.
We believe in Jesus (testimony). We have faith that he died for us(so we follow Him.) and it is our hope that, because of our testimony and our faith in action, we will become like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and have eternal life.
Again here is the verse: And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this becasue of your faith in him according to the promise."
I have read this verse many times in my life, and this morning it took on a whole new meaning. (Personal revelation- a topic worthy of not only a blog post, but volumes of books written about it.)
Testimony is the car. Faith is the engine. Hope is the destination.
What do I hope for? How will I get there? What will take me there?
What do you hope for? How are you going to get there? What will take you there?
For me, I know what I hope for. I have faith that my Savior and Father in Heaven will guide me there. And I believe that the doctrines I have a testimony of will carry me through.
How about you?
I LOVE THIS Michelle!! It pertains so much to my life right now!! As I've been thinking about what the future holds for our David (almost 23 years old).... I've known that he will live with us a long time and that he needs his own space in our home. He needs a room where it's like a small apartment within our home. He has his independence walking to his job in town at the local grocery store, so I knew we had to live in town, within walking distance to the store. Out of the blue one evening a couple of weeks ago, I felt the impression to go look at the house that is for sale just on the block away from our home. I called and set up an appt. to see it the next day, and it has a unfinished basement, except there is a finished bathroom downstairs, a separate entrance. This could work I thought! We could make this apartment downstairs for him. Knowing we would need to sell our home first, the real estate lady said, "well this is not the season for selling, it's in the spring and summer"... I just said, "well, if it's right it will all work out". I took Frank to look at the house and he said the same thing, and I responded the same way. I feel so much peace because I have faith that if it is right, it will all work out, if not... it wasn't meant for us to move at this time. Isn't it awesome to know that Heavenly Father can see far into our future and knows what is best for us, we just have to trust and have faith that he knows BEST!! Thanks for sharing and strengthening my testimony thoughts I've had this month on faith and hope!
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