Hope

“There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.” Proverbs 23:18

If there was ever a time in my short and reflective thirty years of life when people needed to hear, understand, and cling to hope, it is now. We are living in dark days of uncertainty and fear, a time of economic instability and worldwide emptiness and despair. Job security is a distant memory, excessive spending a lost commodity, and dire projections a stark reality. It seems like the hidden question the whole culture is secretly asking is, “What is going to happen next?”

I believe we as Christ followers have an unequivocal opportunity this year. We have the hope that presidents and pundits dream of offering. We alone stand as a light in the darkness of uncertainty and fear, and Jesus said we should not hide our lamps under a basket. Biblical hope is not wishful thinking, but a resolute certainty in our God and His Word that never changes. True hope doesn’t get bogged down in the circumstantial swing of trials, problems, and inconveniences. True hope keeps a watchful eye on the horizon knowing at any moment the winds can change. True hope is genuine and can’t be conjured up with false pretenses. It comes from the God of hope. Paul said in Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

God doesn’t just want us to hold onto hope as if tucked away somewhere in our spirit there is a small candle, fragile in the wind, almost able to be snuffed out by the smallest gust. God wants us to OVERFLOW with hope, by the power of His Spirit!

Peter tells us that we should always be ready to give an answer to unbelievers, explaining why we have hope. I recently spoke to a pastor in Florida who said this is a tough time to do ministry because people are hurting financially and they can’t support churches like they did in the past. I said in rebuttal, “This is a wonderful open door for effective ministry!” In people’s hurts and financial struggle, they remove their hope from riches and place it back in the Living God!

If you place your hope in politicians, corporations, relationships, or 401Ks, you will soon be let down. But if you place your hope in God, Isaiah 49:23 says, “those who hope in me will not be disappointed”.

No matter what the headline news is reporting, we as Christ followers can, with confidence, overflow with hope so a hopeless and haunted culture can be drawn into right relationship with their Heavenly Father.

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you… Ephesians 1:18

-Pilgrim

Inauguration

This week we watched, along with probably over 1 billion people, the changing of the guard of chief executive of our country. With fervor and excitement, almost drunken stupor, the crowds of millions stood in the cold and chanted and cheered, awaiting the arrival of their newly pronounced leader. And then he appeared, and his demeanor took me off guard. Obama stood resolute, jaw-clenched, with almost a look of ominous sobriety, walking with what seemed weighted steps, as the reality of his surely impossible duties loomed ahead. No smiles or softness; he had his face set, and had counted the costs, as he stepped onto the platform.
I can't help but think of Jesus, when this scene unfolded. The crowds gathered, singing "Hosanna, save now!" and waiving their palm branches, only to turn in fickle disregard when their king wasn't Who they elected Him to be. Jesus's face must have revealed a sense of weight that maybe only the disciples saw, that may have surprised them when He entered Jerusalem. And was Jesus's task not infinitely greater? The weight of our sins bearing down, eventually taking the form of a Roman cross upon His back, eventually brought even our Lord to His knees. The sacrifice He gave was given with joy, because beyond the cross Jesus saw glory, and your face and mine. Jesus stepped onto the platform and His speech wasn't smooth, but humble, forgiving, desperate, compassionate, and somber.
May our hopes be placed not in human hands or government systems, but in the Living God, who did not spare His own Son.
Let Him rule and reign in your heart today!