Hope vs. Fantasy: Understanding Faith in Jesus

At some point in our journey, those of us who have used excessive fantasizing or dissociation to escape or distract ourselves from what we perceive as our less than desirable worlds, need to realize that hope and fantasy are two different things. As we read about the importance of hope in our faith walk, we may be tempted to believe that exercising the virtue entails dreaming up an idealistic future where all our problems are solved and everything is rainbows and sunshine as we navigate through the rest of our lives.

Faith: The Foundation of Hope

While it would be great if everything does work in your favor, it would be unrealistic for me to promise you that simply believing hard enough will magically make all your dreams come true.As I’m typing this now, I have to resist the urge to succumb to disappointment; however I am reminded by God that when we delight in Him, He will give us the desires of our hearts.

The thing is with our limited scope of thinking we convince ourselves that we know what we need to ‘fix’ our issue, but more often than not, the very thing we think we need can’t help us at all. The one who created each and every one of us with unique inclinations and reigns understands this, that’s why the hope he encourages us to have should revolve around his promises.

The Pitfalls of Fantasy

The Bible says hope is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Fantasy on the other hand, is described as the intentional use of the imagination to create scenarios of impossible or improbable things. If you still feel like the concepts are synonymous maybe this analogy will help you.

A person telling you they hope you die is vastly different from them saying I fantasize about your death. It’s that simple. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not demonizing fantasizing because it is an innate part of our thinking that helps drive creativity and ambition. Nonetheless, if it is being used as a coping mechanism to escape the real world it becomes an obstacle and distraction and ironically does the exact opposite of its intended purpose.

Conclusion

Truth be told, in the world we are living in today, it is easy to become disillusioned by fantasy since society is bombarded with rags to riches stories and how anybody could be “fill in the blank.” This you can be anything you want to be if you put your mind to it message is particularly alluring to those with traumatic upbringings, painful life experience and a negative perception of themselves.

But the fantasy addiction these messages foster really only enables the avoiding of self and inhibits a person from actually being proactive. On the contrary, when we practice the virtue of hope that God gives us, we use a fruit of the spirit that allows us to exercise choice. Hope drives us to make wise life decisions while excessive fantasizing keeps us stagnant.