One of the three main elements of Christian character 

(1 Cor.13:13 There are three things that will endure--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love.)

 It is joined to faith and love, and is opposed to seeing or possessing Rom. 8:Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom. For if you already have something, you don't need to hope for it.
1 John 3:2 Yes, dear friends, we are already God's children, and we can't even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we do know that when he comes we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.

"Hope is an essential and fundamental element of Christian life, so essential indeed, that, like faith and love, it can itself designate the essence of Christianity (1 Pet. 3:15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if you are asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. 
Heb. 10:23 Without wavering, let us hold tightly to the hope we say we have, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.

In it the whole glory of the Christian vocation is centred Eph. 1:18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people. 4:4 We are all one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future. Unbelievers are without this hope (Eph. 2:12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from God's people, Israel, and you did not know the promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.
1 Thess. 4:13 And now, brothers and sisters, I want you to know what will happen to the Christians who have died so you will not be full of sorrow like people who have no hope.

Christ is the actual object of the believer's hope, because it is in his second coming that the hope of glory will be fulfilled  1Tim. 1:1 This letter is from Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, appointed by the command of God our Savior and by Christ Jesus our hope.
Col. 1:27 For it has pleased God to tell his people that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. For this is the secret: Christ lives in you, and this is your assurance that you will share in his glory.
Titus 2:13 while we look forward to that wonderful event when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed.
It is spoken of as "lively", i.e., a living, hope, a hope not frail and perishable, but having a perennial life 1 Pet. 1:3 All honor to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for it is by his boundless mercy that God has given us the privilege of being born again. Now we live with a wonderful expectation because Jesus Christ rose again from the dead. In Rom. 5:2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory.
the "hope" spoken of is probably objective, i.e., "the hope set before us," namely, eternal life (comp. 12:12Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble, and always be prayerful.
In 1 John 3:3So be strong and take courage all you who put your hope in the LORD!
.the expression "hope in him" ought rather to be, as in the Revised Version, "hope on him," i.e., a hope based on God.