Bible Passage: “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14 ESV)
Scripture Reading: Romans 15:13
Years ago, while training to work with anxiety and depression, I learned that both depression and anxiety are “time-bound” disorders.
While anxiety is an overemphasis on a threatening future, depression is fixation on a broken past.
This thought has stuck with me. The more I walk with those struggling with depression, the more I notice that it’s particularly challenging for them to think about the future—particularly one that consists of hope.
Hopelessness has long been known to be a key vulnerability in the development of depression. A 2025 review of 120 psychological studies confirmed the relationship between hopelessness and depression.
Often, the circumstances of our lives make us vulnerable to hopelessness, particularly as men, as we tend to be averse to weakness.
Certainly, being stuck in a dark prison cell with no idea when we’d be getting out would be such a circumstance.
Yet, we see in today’s passage that Paul was determined—so much so that he strained toward it—to pursue the upward call that God had for his future.
He was committed to forgetting the brokenness of the past and to pressing on toward a hope-filled future in the Lord.
Psychologically, “hope” is defined as a cognitive trait that reflects positive expectations for achieving goals. In other words, the high probability of attaining a goal creates high hope. Biblically, hope is the joyful anticipation of good.
Ultimately, hope is simply positive expectations for the future. Hope pushes us through depression because it draws us into an expectation for good things to come, instead of allowing us to remain stuck in the brokenness of the past.
The question we’re then left with is, if hope is so critical to pushing through depression, how do we cultivate this kind of hope?
In Paul’s prayer in Romans 15:13, we find answers.
First, Paul tells us that our Lord is the God of hope. If we want to learn to hope, we must determine to agree and align with the One who authors and embodies it.
Second, we see that the power of the Holy Spirit fills us with hope, joy, and peace. To abound in hope, we need a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit.
Would you determine to agree with the hopeful One, and ask His Holy Spirit to fill you with His hope today?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, would you give me a revelation of the truth of Your hope for my life? Thank You that You are the hopeful One, and help me find agreement with You. Pour out Your Spirit in my heart today, that by Your power, I would abound in hope, joy, and peace. Amen.
Reflection: What do you think God’s hope for your life would be? What are the things that have kept you fixated on the past? How can you begin to strain and press on toward a hope-filled future?
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