This blog corresponds with the start of the Advent season. Advent – for those of us who have heard it thrown around a lot but may not know what it actually means – is the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event. Thus, as Christians, we look forward to celebrating Jesus’ birth while simultaneously looking forward to Jesus’ return. BFJN’s advent series of blogs will follow the themes of the first four weeks of advent – hope, peace, joy, and love. This first blog is on hope.
The late Timothy Keller, in his podcast series Questioning Christianity, described how there are five things every person needs to live, or I might add, flourish. He says that everyone needs happiness/satisfaction, how to deal with suffering, an identity solid enough to weather the ups and downs of performance, what is right and wrong in the world and how to do it, and finally, hope for the future. Hope for the future is an essential element of Christianity. Though, it is a bit superfluous to say, ‘hope for the future,’ as hope is inherently future-oriented. Romans 8:24 lays this out clearly, “Who hopes for what they already have?” With the answer to this rhetorical question being, ‘no one.’ I don’t hope for breakfast at lunch. It is already in my belly. I can be grateful for things I have had but I certainly don’t hope for them.
Hoping for the future is a constant aspect of simply being human, yet it is easy to misdirect this hope. To hope in things that won’t deliver on their promises or expectations. So, what are some of the false hopes of Christians today? I think there is a lot of false hope in political power. If we can only seize control of government, then we will be content. Even though political power has been abused so much by Christians in the past. Also, once you have power, you have to struggle to hold onto it, of course. I think there is also false hope in our own abilities to provide meaning and security. Generally, it could be hope to make ends meet through your hard work and creativity. Hope to escape an addiction or move beyond a character flaw. On the upper end, it could be hope that making a million dollars a year (which precious few do), doing something you love every single day (again, a rarity), and being able to buy whatever you want (private island maybe) will help us feel secure and satisfied. Yet all of those won’t allow us to feel truly secure and validated. Your health could still go bad. Those you love or want approval from could still hurt you. Amidst so many other potential issues. I don’t bring these up to be a downer. The insecurity and fragility of life are simply realities that aren’t acknowledged as much as they should be.
So how do we avoid these false hopes? We need to constantly reorient ourselves to hope in the proper things or people, mainly God. I disagree with John Piper on various issues, but I did find his book Future Grace, to be helpful in relation to hoping in God. From my best recollection, in the book he lays out how if God offered us nothing in the future, it would be useless to follow him. Really, think about that. If Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, do not change anything about our future, it would make no difference to us. It would be worthless. A waste of time to study, understand, and have faith in. Yet in Jesus, we can have such great hope because it changes everything and comes with such great promises.
What are some of the promises we have in God? God promises that we will be resurrected as Jesus was (John 11:25). God will always be with us (Matthew 28:20). God gives us peace (John 14:27). Jesus is preparing a place for us and will return to bring us there (John 14:1-3). He gives us true freedom (John 8:36). He gives us rest (Matthew 11:28-30). Nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39). He forgives us of our sins (Colossians 1:13-14). God offers us wisdom (James 1:5). One day we will fully know God (1 Corinthians 13:12). We have citizenship in heaven and will be transformed into glorious bodies (Philippians 3:20-21). And many more!
But how can we be sure these things will happen? How can we know our hope is secure, unlike every earthly hope we have? Hebrews 6:13-20 lays out the hope we have in God so profoundly. The part that stands out to me the most is v19-20. “We have this hope as an anchor, for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” It presents a picture of an anchor being placed in the holy of holies from the Old Testament temple/tabernacle. There, in the very presence of God, Jesus has gone before us as a high priest would. Once there, he placed an anchor, not for a ship, but for our very souls. An anchor that cannot be moved. Thus, ensuring that one day we are assured of arriving at the same place Jesus did. I love that imagery and the sureness of the hope. It expresses a spiritual reality that is accomplished through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection in a physical way we can picture. He has gone before us to be in the presence of God and one day we will be there too. This is a hope we can hold onto, delivered by a God who is unchanging and trustworthy.
In conclusion, people are always hoping. Jews of Jesus’ day were hoping for God to establish his kingdom on earth through the Messiah, preferably using force against the Roman oppressors. Today many people are hoping not in God but in technology to save us, perhaps before we live out I, Robot. It is easy for us Christians to get caught up in false hopes too. Not false because we won’t actually get what we are hoping for. False because they offer false promises of fulfillment and security that can only be found in God. So, what are you hoping for? How can you strengthen your hope in God and help others to hope in God too?
Its like you read my mind You appear to know a lot about this like you wrote the book in it or something I think that you could do with some pics to drive the message home a little bit but instead of that this is fantastic blog An excellent read I will certainly be back