Hope

On December 11, 2010, the Clearwater Marine Aquarium hospital rescued a little 58-lbs 3-month old dolphin that they named Hope. They found her undernourished and dying, but within several months of rehabilitation, she was growing and healthy. Her story, along with the injured dolphin Winter, that the aquarium had found several years earlier, was part of a movie series called Dolphin Tale. It happens to be a favorite movie for my kids. In fact, it inspired my family to take a trip to Clearwater last fall to see Hope and Winter.

It's the tiny dolphin’s name that I want to focus on in this article – Hope. I'm not sure if there were any interviews as to why Hope was the name chosen, but logic tells us they were hopeful to revive her. Even though she was now being nourished, she still wasn't “out of the woods” yet. They had HOPE that they could make her healthy again, but that would be somewhat dependent upon the will of that dolphin.

That's true in our life as well. We have to want to rid ourselves of the disease of self and pride; Or as Paul told the folks in Lystra in Acts 14:15 that they should turn from their worthless and vain things and listen to the gospel. James describes this worthless living as selfishness and arrogance and that it is not from God but from the Devil (James 3:14-18). But just as Jesus warned His disciples in Matthew 26:41-42 “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Our flesh is drawn to shiny, exciting things of the world; that's part of being human. But the dangerous side is that we allow those things to take our eyes off of the life God has offered us through Christ. Our involvement in the process is having the will to live. He is our hope, and He will be where we find true and lasting life. There will be a day that we will be glad we didn't give in to the temptations of the world, but for right now, we have to keep watching and praying.

We have hope of eternal life because of the salvation that Christ made possible. And while it is offered to anyone and ultimately everyone, not everyone will have the will to live. They will lose hope throughout all their trials of life and take the easier road of worldly living, of selfishness, of greed, of hate, of things contrary to the will of God. As Paul said in Colossians 3:2, “Set your mind on things above, not things that are of the earth....”

To stay hopeful will require us to surrender our will to His care. He has the power to nourish us and heal us, not the things of the world. Don't lose hope in the promises of God.