God doesn’t expect us to sit and hope for heaven—he expects us to hope as we work to make heaven here on Earth.
Take one look at the state of the world, and it makes sense why so many in our generation deal with anxiety, depression, and despair: think chaotic governments, foreign wars, political unrest, angry people, and crushingly difficult economies. In the face of such challenges, we may feel powerless and want to bury ourselves under a blanket of protective apathy. Nobody really believes that we can change the world for the better, right?
Photo by Miguel Bruna
Despite this, hope is critically important, as Elder Neal A. Maxwell points out in his October 1994 general conference address “Brightness of Hope.” But to me, telling me to have hope “because heaven will be better” feels particularly dismissive, uncompassionate, and totally unlike God’s character when I’m lying on the floor in despair. So what’s the deal with hope?
We often think hope means looking forward to a better world after this one. And while that is true, Elder Maxwell tells us that hope is more than just anticipating heaven: “Significantly, those who look forward to a next and better world are usually ‘anxiously engaged’ in improving this one, for they ‘always abound in good works’” (Doctrine and Covenants 58:27; Alma 7:24). Rather than wishful thinking, Elder Maxwell describes hope as “realistic anticipation taking the form of determination.”
In other words, hope means we directly act to bring about that better world here and now.
That means God is not asking us to shut our eyes, plug our ears, and try to ignore our suffering. God is asking us to get up, face the despair, and do something about it. He gave us agency to act, and he expects us to use it.
So this week, do something that creates a sense of hope and optimism. Knit a potholder. Take a friend to lunch. Volunteer for community service. God doesn’t ask us to have hope despite the state of the world. He asks us to have hope because we—in whatever small ways available to us—can change the world for the better.
Read the rest of Elder Maxwell’s thoughts on hope in his full address “Brightness of Hope.”
Source: General Conference
—Kira Christensen, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY MARIA THALASSINOU
Find more insights
Read more about the certainty of hope in the Gospel Topics essay “Hope.”
Check out the Latter-day Saint Insights article “And Yet, Hope Persists” by Abby Carr to discover how we can find motivation to hope through turning to Christ.