Finding Hope Amid Severe Illness
On my son’s fifth birthday, I sat in a cancer center six hundred miles away, watching chemotherapy flow from IV bags into my body. I was battling a rare form of cancer, and my need for a clinical trial took me away from my husband and three young kids for several months.
My worldly hope was gravely threatened. My good health was gone, and it took my energy, my hair, and my predictable future with it. Instead of caring for my family, my days were filled with waiting rooms, blood transfusions, medical tests, and naps. I missed precious milestones with my kids and didn’t know if I’d live to see more.
Through the trials of cancer and survivorship, I needed a hope that could withstand the roller coaster of my health struggles. Because of God’s mercy and grace, we have a better hope to which we can cling: our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Peter wrote his first epistle to suffering Christians like you and me to assure us that our living hope in Christ will not be shaken by earthly trials and will endure to its glorious end.
Our Living Hope
Peter began his letter with the good news of our living hope:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3)
We do not belong to a Savior whose body is still in the grave. He rose from the dead, declaring victory over sin and death (1 Cor. 15:54–57). Furthermore, His resurrection is only the beginning of the resurrection story. He is the firstfruits of the resurrection, and all who belong to Him will live forever because He is our living hope (1 Cor. 15:20–23).
When we suffer the effects of severe illness, it’s easy to grow weary and discouraged. We may lose hope that life will ever return to normal. In those dark moments, we can cling to our living hope, our Savior who has conquered the grave. We have a living hope because we have a living Savior.
Our Unshakeable Hope
Not only have we been born again to a living hope, but we’ve also been born again
to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:4–5)
Those who belong to Christ can look beyond the suffering of this world to a secure inheritance. The illnesses that ruthlessly ravage our physical bodies can’t touch it. The circumstances that overwhelm us can’t diminish its eternal perfection and purity. Nothing can threaten what God is keeping in heaven for us.
Our hope is unshakeable because God’s grip on us is unshakeable.
How do we know with certainty that we will receive this unfading inheritance? Peter said we are being guarded by God’s power through faith. It doesn’t depend on our own power or the strength of our faith. We receive this inheritance by God’s mercy, and we keep it by God’s power. Our hope is unshakeable because God’s grip on us is unshakeable (John 10:27–29).
Our Glorious Hope
When Peter wrote about this living, unshakeable hope, he wasn’t oblivious to the trials of life. And yet, Peter encouraged us to rejoice even when we are grieved by suffering:
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:6–7)
God’s promises lift our eyes from our temporary troubles to our everlasting glory. Because of God’s work in us, the testing of suffering proves our faith to be genuine. When Christ returns, the faith God has cultivated in us through these trials will “result in praise and glory and honor” (1 Peter 1:7). This glory may refer to Christ’s glory, the glory we receive with Him, or both. But we know our future with Christ will be glorious, and it is a reason to rejoice in the midst of suffering today.
Our hope in Christ is a steadfast refuge when pain consumes us, fear overwhelms us, and the changes to our bodies and our futures exhaust us. Because of our living, unshakeable, glorious hope, we can say with Peter: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Peter 1:3).
Life Issues
Resources about the challenges Christians face in a fallen world, including: anger, anxiety and worry, apostasy, depression, doubt, grief and death, guilt, legalism, money and stewardship, oaths and vows, pride, retirement, suffering, and suicide.
