Latest / The Daily Article / Where will you place your hope today? Six bad options and one surprising fact

Transcript

Where will you place your hope today? Six bad options and one surprising fact · The Daily Article

• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the Tuesday, May the 19th, 2026 edition of Dinnison Forms, Daily Article Podcast.
• 0:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Today's daily article is authored by Dr. Jim Dinnison and narrated by your true leaf, Reselkins.
• 0:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is an article about hope.
• 0:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, hope is not an independent entity.
• 0:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like friendship or love, it requires an object.
• 0:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: We do not hope we hope in something.
• 0:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: So let's consider some options in the days news.
• 0:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: We could put our hope in an escalating impact of religion in our culture, but despite the large prayer rally on the national mall on Sunday, only 37% of Americans say religion is gaining influence in our country.
• 0:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: And as yesterday's deadly assault on a San Diego mosque demonstrated, the number of hate crimes against religious groups is continuing to rise.
• 0:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: We could hope in our nation's superpower status, but 62% of Americans say China's influence is getting stronger in the world.
• 1:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Only 34% say the same about the U.S.
• 1:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: While 59% of Americans say our country's best days are behind us.
• 1:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: We could put our hope in politics and politicians, but political reports that our politics have become so divisive that, quote, the political therapy boom has arrived.
• 1:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: We could trust our hope in medical science, but the ongoing Ebola outbreak shows the limits of our capacities and medical progress can be used for bad as well as for good.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: For example, several companies now offer genetic testing that critics call a quest for, quote, designer babies.
• 1:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: We could put our hope for the future in artificial intelligence.
• 1:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: But like medicine, it can be used for good or for ill. For example, a recent analysis of AI on college campuses reports that it is affecting quote every appendage of the university system and warns that it will grow
• 2:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Or we could put our hope in future generations, but demographers report that we are in the midst of a head-long global birth crash with massive implications for humanity.
• 2:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: By now, you probably expect me to encourage you to put your hope in Jesus.
• 2:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're right, but not for the reasons you might expect.
• 2:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: The German philosopher, theodore Adorno, contended that humans often use reason instrumentally as a means to the ends we want, rather than as the basis for beliefs or actions.
• 2:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: We often do the same with our faith as well.
• 2:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like the crowds who followed Jesus, as he would meet their needs, referencing John 6 verse 26,
• 2:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: We want our Lord to heal our hurts and help us with our problems.
• 2:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: I've heard faith healers promise that He will do just that if we have enough faith.
• 2:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's an in-viewable position.
• 2:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: If we're healed in response to their message, they get the credit.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: If we are not, we get the blame for lacking necessary faith.
• 3:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: I am writing today to content for the opposite position.
• 3:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: The more we follow Jesus, the more we are likely to suffer as a consequence.
• 3:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: But the greater our suffering, the more transforming our hope in Christ can become.
• 3:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus can never be accused of glossing over the cost of discipleship, warning us in stark terms from John 15, verse 20, if they persecuted me.
• 3:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: they will also persecute you.
• 3:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: And for the same reasons, sinners resent being told they need to repent of their sins.
• 3:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: I feel the same way.
• 3:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: If an oncologist tells me I have cancer, I'd rather reject her diagnosis than endure the treatment she prescribes.
• 3:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the fact is that Satan wants to steal and kill and destroy us as noted in John 10, verse 10, the more we serve our Lord, the more we threaten our enemy.
• 3:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: With the two together, and it is unsurprising that Christianity is far and away the most persecuted religion in the world.
• 4:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: So far, you're wondering if I misplace the hope I promised.
• 4:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Here it is.
• 4:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: From 2 Corinthians 1 verse 5, as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ, we shall share abundantly in our comfort too.
• 4:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Consider three ascending facts.
• 4:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: One, suffering for Christ draws us out of our self-reliant culture and into dependence on the spirit that positions us to experience his transforming power and peace, referencing Philippians 4 vs 6 and 7.
• 4:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Such reliance enables Jesus to manifest himself to us and through us.
• 4:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Transforming our character and producing as listed in Galatians 5 vs. 22 and 23 is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in our lives.
• 4:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Eat more Christ like we become, the more we fulfill God's purpose for us as He redeems
• 5:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: St. John of Avila, of the 16th century, wrote, Here, brothers and sisters, I pray God may open your eyes and let you see what hidden treasures he bestows on us in the trials from which the world thinks only to flee.
• 5:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Shame turns into honor when we see God's glory, present affliction becomes the source of heavenly glory.
• 5:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: To those who suffer wounds and fighting his battles, God opens his arms and loving tinder fellowship, which is more delightful by far than anything our earthly effort might produce.
• 5:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: In anyone, but a man in whom all desire is dead, they ought to desire him who is wholly lovable, wholly desirable, in quotes.
• 5:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: What price will you pay to follow such a Lord today?