A man in the community where I live was featured in a newspaper article because he enjoys ridiculing the Christian faith. He boldly declares his conviction that life has no meaning and that we have no basis for hope of life beyond the grave. He defiantly rejects the evidence for the existence of God and the historical record of Christ's resurrection.

The day may come when he, like the atheistic philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), will long for a glimmer of hope and not be able to find it. In 1980, the ailing Sartre wrote, "Despair returns to tempt me. . . . The world seems ugly, bad, and without hope. There, that's the cry of despair of an old man who will die in despair. But that's exactly what I resist. I know I shall die in hope. But that hope needs a foundation."

Within a month Sartre was dead. I wonder if he ever discovered that foundation. God's Word teaches that the only basis for hope is the empty grave and the resurrected Christ (1 Corinthians 15).

God has provided in Jesus Christ a rock-solid foundation for hope. Because He did rise from the grave, no one needs to die in despair (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).

What about you? Is your hope founded on Christ?    — Herbert Vander Lugt