To Those Who Need Hope – Part 1 – Introduction

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Let me preface by stating something that’s obvious but not always clear, something that’s unavoidable and good to be reminded of: We all need hope.

This series – To Those Who Need Hope – is addressed to all of us.

There isn’t a single one of us who doesn’t need hope in his or her life. There isn’t a single one of us who doesn’t need the love of God. We need hope, and we need it all the time. We need the love of God “like we need a heartbeat,” as Rend Collective sings.

We are desperate for love and for hope. We see it in our movies, in our songs, in the art of history past and present, in each other, and in our own hearts. You can search “Why do we need hope?” on Google and read articles about “why hope matters” from Psychology Today, “why it’s so important to hope” from USA Today, and why we need hope as asked by users on Quora. We endure because of hope. It doesn’t matter if you’re an atheist, an agnostic, a Muslim, a Jew, a liberal, a conservative, black, white, man, woman, gay, or straight—you still need hope. You still need love.

Our lives are full of turmoil and despair and suffering, among moments of happiness and contentment. We can be easily trapped within the motion of things, within the flow of the world. We often find ourselves having to stop and take a step back, look at things in a different light, remember to breathe, and readjust. Our human condition makes it inevitable for us to desire and need both hope and love.

We need something to look up to, to look forward to, to aim at—to remind us that we aren’t alone. We need to know that we are suffering for a reason, that it is not done in vain. We need to be able to close our eyes and know that “this too shall pass.”

Many of us hope we get that job promotion, that special Christmas gift, that bigger, nicer house. We hope that this person we really like will like us back, that we don’t miss the plane, that it won’t rain tomorrow. While it’s okay to wish for these things, they don’t represent the same desire I am referring to. That desire is deeper. It’s within our souls and it longs for meaning and substance.

We are told to put our trust and hope into the Lord and his unfailing love (Psalm 147:11). That’s where our true, substantive hope lies. For every rejection, disappointment, struggle, death, every point of pain, there is the love of God, above it all. Bigger than it all. He suffers alongside us, and steps with us the entire way. If we put our hope in Him, all the worries, frustrations, and sufferings of life don’t seem as big anymore.

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Our suffering is temporary. God’s love is eternal. And our hope in Jesus Christ—our rock, our firm foundation—can get us through anything.

 

The next essay will deal with the pursuit of perfection.

Image by Freepik

The Way of Love

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“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

Recently I was exploring Twitter and all-too-soon became bombarded with the bickering, bantering, toxicity, and chaos of “heroes from all sides” of every seemingly world-ending, catastrophic headline and social issue. In this wonderful world we know as the internet, anyone can speak their mind. Some share their opinions as an anonymous, untruthful source, while others shout theirs proudly and make sure you know who they are.

We like to be heard. We like to be seen. We like to make sure that people know what’s on our minds, and that what we are thinking and believing is absolutely correct. We must make our voices heard, because truth matters more than consequence…

Does that sound familiar?

It can be easy for us, as Christians, to unapologetically share the gospel. It’s good to share the gospel. As humans, we have this push inside us to prove to others that we know what’s best, that we are on the right side, that we are simply doing what’s best for others.

But we aren’t perfect. No one is. We live in a fallen world where it’s all-too-easy to fail and make mistakes. We live in a time in history when anyone can voice their opinion and share their input at the click of a button.

So while we may be trying to do what’s best for others, it’s vitally important to keep in mind a couple of things:

  1. We are sinners and will always be sinners. That does not by any stretch mean that we should simply accept that reality and not try to better ourselves. But it does mean that we desperately need grace (and desperately need to give it to others) and that we will do things that harm ourselves and others (even if we have good intentions).
  2. With that said, it is absolutely necessary to remember the words of Paul:

 

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV.

 

We need the love of God. We need the resurrection of Jesus. To some, these two points are corny and out-of-date. But if you take a look around, and if you look closely (and it doesn’t even have to be that close), you can see the inspiration of God in the nature and beauty of the natural world, you can see the evidence that we humans have the capacity for both good and evil, and you can understand that under everything lies a principle of morality. You can experience love.

The first verse in chapter thirteen of 1 Corinthians is especially applicable to our modern world: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” As much as we want to share the gospel and get as many people “on our team” as possible, we have to remember that we must do it with love.

Jesus died for us out of love. If He can do that, then we can certainly take pause, consider our actions and words, and practice love, the most renewable resource in all of creation.

 

Image by freepik.