Hope is Culture

Hope is culture. In its authentic form, Hope is God-inspired expectation for heaven. Not heaven far off in time and space, but heavenly realities established here and now. His will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. But, the hope which humanity possesses is incomplete, an expectation less than ideal. And to the measure we hope, to the same measure we experience. An individual or a group of individuals set the boundaries for their existence, their individual or corporate culture, by their expectation, their hope.

For the early years of this country slavery was an expectation of the majority of our populace. Inherited from almost all of human history slavery was considered by many to be a normal and even necessary element of human life. Culture was defined by slavery, because our expectation, our hope was for it. Over time, and through the bravery of countless individuals this hope began to shift. And now, though there is lots of hope to grow in with regards to race, slavery is no longer a consideration in the lives of the normal American. Our expectations have changed, and our Hope has created a new culture, one which abhors the concept of human enslavement, and one which still acts as a catalyst to bring reform around the world wherever chains offend our expectation for human liberty! We expect and thus live a culture of bodily freedom.

These same principles translate to the family. Where there is any expectation for anger (even allowed outbursts), for anxiety (even one domain of worry), for teenage rebellion (even just a few years of disconnect) these things surface as the culture of homes. Neither is hope akin to desire. No one would say they desire a family defined by anger, anxiety, or teenage angst, but our culture doesn’t care what we desire; it cares what we expect. We will produce what we expect. Through my process of growing up I developed an expectation of non-expressivity, which bordered on joyless boredom. I expected myself to be less than fun, and less than joyful, thus less than heaven, and sure enough I lived this reality out. I have had to reclaim the hope of joy and of expressivity. I am still no charismatic, gregarious people-person, but I am refusing to settle for a boring life. This is the foremost duty of any parent, and any Christian beside - to do the hard and intentional work to make their desires their expectation, and thus their culture. Even more strongly for those of us submitted to heaven, it is our duty to make Heaven’s desires our expectation, and thus our culture.

Perhaps my favorite verse in the Bible comes from Psalm 37 and reads, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” In the presence of God, in the celebration and revelation of His goodness, the desires of our hearts are translated from a mere wish to a real hope, a solid expectation for what should and can be in my life. It is thus that I can begin to make the declaration over my home, and over any community I touch that it will be defined by a culture of such things as peace, joy, honor, and generosity. I can expect these realities in my, in our life, and be moved in my heart to genuinely have hope for their appearance. Thus, when appearances don’t match the boundaries I have set for my culture I am moved to alter those appearances and circumstances, rather than conforming my expectation to my experience.  

We will always experience what we expect. Our home will embody our hope. Does this mean a person with strong expectation of peace can never experience anxiety? No. Neither does it mean our kid’s will be perfect just because we expect them to be. But our reactions to negative circumstance will always be dictated by hope, and those reactions make all the difference. If we don’t do the individual heart work to expect more, no - to expect heaven, then we can be certain to repeat the dysfunction of our individual past and our corporate history.   Humanity does not have a great track record with regards to peace, joy, honor, or generosity. Change comes by growing our expectation, letting that expectation become the genuine culture of our homes, letting our homes impact our cities, and eventually a new hope to be established in humanity. It need not take long. In our globally connected world, change happens in the relative blink of an eye. Start your change today. Define your family culture. Pick one, pick five, pick ten, pick twenty boundary markers with which you want to define your home. My family has ten. Pick them, and then let them examine and change your heart, until you increasingly expect them in every conversation, every trial, every relationship. Watch your expectations become your experience! Your family line will never be the same.