Hope - is it elusive?
If you are a follower of Jesus, hopelessness is like the engine light coming on in your vehicle. Hopelessness indicates more than just lost hope; hopelessness means we have placed our faith in something other than God - idolatry - and that our love for God and others is ebbing.
Have you ever said anything like this?
“I just don’t have much hope for that church anymore.”
“I just don’t have much hope for my marriage.”
“My teenager is hopeless.”
“I keep falling to the same sin, time and time again, and I just can’t stop. This is hopeless.”
Or, like is being said by many young leaders in the Southern Baptist denomination, “I don’t have much hope for the convention anymore.”
Consider these verses:
[B]ecause we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints— the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. . . .if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. [This is] the Word of God in its fullness—the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
As followers of Jesus we have met the God who loves. We have met a God who is always faithful, always loving, always kind, always merciful, always compassionate, always giving, always true. He has never once failed to accomplish His promises or purposes. If we lack hope it absolutely indicates that we have placed our hope in something other than God. This is a black and white truth in an otherwise gray world. When someone loses hope in a marriage it is because their hope was in a person, not God, whether it be oneself or one’s spouse. When someone loses hope in a denomination it is because the denomination has become more dear to them than God Himself, and a denomination simply isn’t faithful or true, not like God.
The next time you feel yourself starting to say or feel that you have lost hope, the first step to take is to repent and turn to the One who can fill you with hope. Pray with Paul…
“May the God of hope fill [me] with all joy and peace as [I will place my] trust in Him [and Him alone], so that [I] may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 (adapted to personalize).
More steps to follow coming soon…
