This is one way that hope has been described to me recently. I have come to realize that hope is one of those words that is hard to define without using the word in the definition. Most dictionaries define hope as a feeling or expectation that things are going to turn out for the best. While this true and accurate, I need (much in the same way that Boston did) more than a feeling. I need security and certainty in my hope. I need to know that things are going to in fact turn out good, that I am not setting myself up for disappointment, or failure, or pain. Having hope is not easy. Most of the time our circumstances say "lose heart" or "just give up". Most of the time it seems easier just to give up than to hold on to a promise that does not appear to be coming true. I think there are a few problems with hope today. Lots of times we follow a counterfeit hope.
I think we can all fall for a selfish hope. We all want things to turn out for the best, but only if that best refers to personal gain, personal profit, or making sure we get our way, we get what we want. True hope is not confidence that we will get what we want, but confidence that things will in fact turn out good. Not what we think is best, but that in time God will accomplish what is truly good and bring glory to his name. This seems easy in theory, but difficult in practice.
The story does not always end happily ever after. Sometimes the story doesn't even start out happy. With all the hurt and pain in the world it can sometimes appear that nothing will ever be worked out. It's a good thing there is heaven right? A place where there is no pain or sorrow sounds pretty good in the midst of trouble. There is nothing wrong with believing in Heaven or that God promises us a place with him there for eternity; the problem is that we think things will only get better in the next life - removing hope from the picture right now. I firmly believe that God is active in our lives right now; that he is at work in our lives even when we can't see and even when everything is only getting worse. Hope has to be more than something we get after we die. If Heaven is all hope is good for, then what good is it right now? What good is it in my life? Hope is confidence that God is on the move and no matter what happens, he is still in control.
It seems to me that too often than not our hope is left to chance. We say we believe that God is working, but we doubt if he really is. So instead of leaving our destiny in the hands of the unknown, we take it into our own. That way if things don't work out with the whole God thing we are covered, and if they do, we're still good. I have noticed that I do not do any better on my own than I do with God. Most of the time it gets worse.
I wonder what life would look like if we really lived true hope. If we really believed that the power that raised Christ from the dead is promised to us right now in this life. If we really believed that nothing in this world, even death, could bring us down or stop the work that God was doing in and through us. I wonder how this would change how we interacted with people.
Recently I was reminded about the importance of hope. God brought to my attention that I had lost sight of hope, and in doing so I had lost sight of him. A life without hope does not seem worth living. When there is no future, when the end of the story seems to have happened three chapters ago, why keep going? Hope dies when it is not shared, or at least grows stale and is discarded. What would happen if we lived in such a way that others were filled with hope? What if we purposefully entered situations to bring hope, or were intentional about taking hope wherever we went? Would the world still seem hopeless. Maybe the world seems hopeless because everyone is trying to just get hope for themselves. Maybe instead the answer is sharing. Maybe I'm on to something...or maybe this is just a musing of a modern day sasquatch...
No comments:
Post a Comment