Alive - by Dave Smith

ways to achieve that goal.
This realistic hope has been proven to increase work productivity,
overall wellbeing, physical health and even life expectancy. 5
I have certainly found this perspective an inspiring and helpful
corrective to the wishful thinking of mere optimistic hope. Yet, there
are still limits to this kind of hope. For instance, there are some
situations that are simply impossible to overcome through our own
efforts, as they are outside of our control. And, no matter how much
we hope for and see in this life, ultimately life has a seemingly
hopeless ending in death.
The great news, though, is that the resurrection of Jesus turns
death from a hopeless end into an endless hope. In the words of one
of the first witnesses of the resurrection: ‘Praise be to the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us
new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or
fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are
shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is
ready to be revealed in the last time’ (1 Peter 1:3–5, my emphasis).
Here, the New Testament writer outlines a fourth kind of hope –
living hope.
It is important to note the key differences between this and the
model on which Lopez develops his theme of resilient hope. Firstly,
living hope does have a sense of a goal – but not a human goal,
based on our own desires. Rather, it is a future planned by God both
in this life and in the life to come – hence the emphasis on our
‘inheritance’. Secondly, living hope also has agency, but one that is
without all the limitations. Instead of just seeing us as the agency –
and the focus on us having ‘the power to make it so’ – it focuses on