‘Hope is not a strategy’, said someone

It depends on which website you believe, but someone, somewhere said, ’Hope is not a strategy.’ I’ve seen it given to movie director James Cameron, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, economist Dr. Benjamin Ola Akande, Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi, and even Barack Obama.

A quotable quote has many fathers.

So let’s interrogate it.

As it stands, it’s true. If you need to reach a village, pay for a Ministry Apprentice, preach for conversions or halt a heresy, hope is not the strategy you need.  Clear goals, specific milestones, agreed tactics and solid execution are what you should be reaching for.

Hope is not a strategy. But that doesn’t make it nothing.

Hope is a motivating purpose, a confident faith, a joy in suffering, a persistence in repeated difficulty. Hope gets you on your feet again and again, opening the bible, offering the cross, lifting up Christ.

Hope will keep you serving for life.

Hope is not whistling in the dark, wishing for the best, crossing your fingers and refusing to plan.

‘Hope’ is a four-letter way of spelling ‘faith’. Which is a five-letter way of spelling ‘belief’  Which is a six-letter way of spelling ‘promise’.  Which is a seven-letter way of spelling ‘covenant’.

If you have those with you, you can make hard but humble plans, confident that God will keep his Word in the ways he sovereignly sees best.

Because Strategy is an expression of Hope.