Hope That Burns Away the World

On the hope that is born when a man finally believes the Gospel

“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Matthew 6:33

St. Isaac places hope after the first labor of virtue for a reason.

A man must first discover that his virtues cannot save him.

He fasts.

He keeps vigil.

He disciplines the body.

He restrains the passions.

He learns obedience to the commandments.

Yet even after these labors something remains uncertain within him. The heart still trembles before the future. The mind still calculates. The soul still tries to secure itself.

Virtue alone does not destroy fear.

Because fear is rooted in the illusion that life depends upon us.

So Isaac begins to speak about hope.

Not optimism.

Not religious comfort.

Not the quiet belief that God will make things easier.

Divine hope is something far more terrible.

Divine hope appears when a man finally believes the words of Christ.

“Make no provision for the flesh.”

The man who hopes in God no longer arranges his life around survival. He arranges it around God.

This is why Isaac describes the man who ceases to give thought to worldly provision. Such a man has not become careless. He has become free.

He has discovered something the world does not understand.

God is not an idea that accompanies life.

God is life.

The world trains us to think first about preservation. Food. Clothing. Shelter. Security. Reputation. Position. The future.

Even religious men often organize their spiritual life around these concerns. They seek God but only after they have secured themselves.

Christ reverses this order.

Seek first the Kingdom.

Not second.

Not after your plans are settled.

Not after the future is secured.

First.

When this commandment is believed, everything changes.

Afflictions no longer appear as threats.

Loss no longer appears as catastrophe.

Uncertainty no longer produces panic.

The man who hopes in God has already placed his life in God’s hands.

Nothing remains to defend.

This is why the saints could live with such strange freedom.

They possessed little.

They planned little.

They secured little.

Yet they lacked nothing.

The world itself began to serve them.

Not because they controlled the world but because they had already abandoned it.

Divine hope therefore exposes the false hope that governs most lives.

False hope says God will protect the life I am building.

True hope says God Himself is my life.

False hope clings to stability.

True hope walks where Christ walks.

Into uncertainty.

Into poverty.

Into the wilderness.

Into the Cross.

And yet the man who walks there does not despair.

Because he has discovered something greater than safety.

He has discovered the faithfulness of God.

This is why Isaac places hope after the discipline of virtue.

Virtue trains the body.

Hope gives the heart to God.

Without hope the ascetic life becomes anxiety dressed in religious clothing.

With hope the man becomes light.

He lives before God without calculation.

He labors.

He prays.

He stands watch over the heart.

And he entrusts everything else to the mercy of God.

Such a man has begun to believe the Gospel.