Questions About Hope

Tuesday 11/24/2015 4:54 AM

In my journal yesterday I wrote about the anxiety that many Christians feel today regarding the future. Terrorist threats are daily fare on the news and, if conservative commentators are to be believed, there is a war on Christians and the Christian way of life. Many in the Christian community are lashing out with anger and fear, fighting to make sure our “rights” are protected and that our way of life is preserved.

In his book A Guide to Spiritual Discernment, Rueben Job portrays the history of the Christian community that stands in stark contrast to this way of thinking and acting. He writes, “Hope has always been a dominant quality in the life of the Christian community. … The source of this resolute hope was never found in the surroundings or how things were going for the Church. Rather, hope was found in God and the assurance that God was at work in the Church and in the world. The disciples felt a calm confidence that God’s work and will would ultimately be completed and fulfilled. And they were assured that every Christian was invited into a partnership with God that moved toward the fulfillment of God’s grand design for all creation. Such assurance is fertile ground in which the seeds of hope can flourish and bear the fruit of faithful living.”

Where are the church leaders that preach this message? Why does this message of hope and assurance fail to be promulgated by the church and its spokespersons? Who will speak the truth to a world that desperately needs to hear the truth that God is at work and will prevail, come hell or high water? When will the Christian community learn to listen to God’s promises in his word rather than to the talking heads of our modern society? When will we learn to walk in confidence, knowing that the all-powerful God of the universe, who loves us, is walking with us?

We need to live like we believe the words of Jesus to his disciples in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”