Imagine there are two identical people in two separate rooms. Each room is identical in every way; identical shape, size, temperature, pressure, humidity and light. Each identical person is given the same boring, simple task, which they were asked to repeat for 8 hours a day, every day, for a week. At the end of the week the first person is promised $300, while the second is promised $3,000.

These two completely identical people, in completely identical situations, with completely identical tasks, are going to have two completely different attitudes. One will find it much easier to tolerate the tedious drudgery because they have a much brighter future to look forward to.

Hope is a very powerful emotion that can bring beautiful light to a life if it is given to someone, and cause terrible darkness if taken away. In the Salvation Army Australia our advertising slogan is: “Hope where it’s needed most.” This is a wonderful way of saying that the services we offer to the public are designed specifically to convey hope to people who are facing hardship or injustice.

Our hope is for much greater things than a large pay check at the end of a week of tedious work. Our hope is for a future flourishing of humanity. A future when heaven and earth are re-made, re-formed and all people live with justice and peace. This is a hope promised many centuries before Jesus came to earth, and it is a hope that was fulfilled when Jesus was born, and will continue to be fulfilled until Jesus comes back again.