By Dennis Ritchie

We all hope for things to be true. I hope coffee really does have health benefits. I hope traffic will be light when I’m running late (which is often). I hope my dogs understand English when I tell them to stop barking at the Amazon guy. We hope for peace in the world, fairness in our systems, and that Costco samples never go away. Some of those hopes are rooted in reality. Others… not so much. But beneath all those little daily hopes is a bigger question: What do I really hope is true? The kind of hope that anchors me when life throws me a sucker punch.

Here’s the thing: the world throws around “truth” like it’s on clearance. What’s “true for you” may not be “true for me,” and while that sounds nice at brunch, it falls apart pretty fast when life gets real. If truth is up for grabs, how do we build anything solid? That’s why I don’t hang my hope on the shifting sands of opinion or trends. I hang it on the rock-solid, time-tested, eternity-backed promises of God’s Word. Jesus said in John 17:17, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” Not a truth. Not your truth. The truth.

My hope isn’t some fingers-crossed, knock-on-wood, maybe-it’ll-work-out kind of thing. It’s not wishful thinking in a spiritual hoodie. It’s assurance. Hebrews 6:19 says, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” That’s the kind of hope I want—and need. A hope that doesn’t flinch when life throws punches. A hope rooted in the unchanging nature of God and His promises. Jesus is the embodiment of that hope. He doesn’t shift with the culture. He doesn’t adjust His message to win popularity contests. He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever—and that’s good news when everything else seems to be up for negotiation.

So, what do I hope is true? I hope grace is real, that broken things can be made whole, that love wins—not in a syrupy way, but in the cross-and-empty-tomb kind of way. And I don’t just hope these things are true—I believe them, because they’re grounded in the absolute, unfailing, sometimes-convicting-but-always-life-giving truth of God’s Word. And if that’s true (and I believe with everything in me that it is), then no matter what comes, I’ve got a hope that holds. Even on days when my dogs still bark at the Amazon guy.