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Hope – Not In This Worldby Steve Cox,
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One of the things we at the Fellowship encourage each other to do is to engage people around us in spiritual conversations, learning more about what they believe, and helping them to understand the hope that they can have in Jesus Christ. Like many of you, I really desire to do this, but I have a variety of inhibitions and hesitations that keep me from actually sharing about Jesus as often as I could or should. But last week the Lord presented me with an opportunity that thankfully I did not pass up. I was speaking with Gerry, who shared with me that she is very discouraged about almost everything in life. At the age of 62, and a government employed health care worker, she says the quality of care her organization provides has steadily declined. She feels overall government is in decline, and more importantly, our entire country and world seem to be in steady decline. She has no hope for the future. Taking a bit of a step of faith, with someone I had just met, I decided to be transparent with her. I told her I agreed with her in many ways regarding her impression of this world. But I shared with her that my hope is not in this world. My hope is in Jesus Christ and the promises he has given us of the world to come. She was fairly interested in what it means to be a Christian and I was able to share with her how we can commit our lives to Jesus as our Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9-10). We will likely have more conversations in the weeks to come, so please pray for Gerry. What was also very interesting is that she shared with me one of her co-workers is a Christian. She described this young Christian man as someone who was frequently talking with her about end times prophecies and how they are being fulfilled right now. He frequently gives her things to read about how biblical prophecies of the end times are being fulfilled right now and the great tribulation may begin at any moment. What surprised me most was this Christian’s regular advice to Gerry. His primary focus seems to be on physical safety and material preparation, He urged her to make sure that she has a large stockpile of emergency provisions and a place to hide when this world goes into impending upheaval. Gerry asked me to share my thoughts regarding these matters. I really didn’t want to be critical of her co-worker, and tried not to be, but I felt that he and Gerry were frankly way off target. I referred back to the point I made that started us on this conversation. One of Jesus’ primary challenges to us is to not place our hope in this world (Mark 8:34-36), but to surrender to him as our Lord and Savior, to set our hope fully on the saving grace of Jesus Christ (I Peter 1:13). I have no idea of whether or not we are in the “end times”. I do know that Jesus teaches us to live in imminent expectation of his return. It is true the Bible teaches us that this world will eventually fall into chaos before his return. It may happen within our lifetimes. But by telling us to live in that expectancy, Jesus is not urging us to become self-centered and seek to protect ourselves from the crises of life. Rather he urges us to work all the more diligently to become more like him and to reach others with the love of Christ. One warning of Jesus that kind of haunts me in this regard is found
in Matthew 24:12, where Jesus says the increase in wickedness will cause
the “love of most to grow cold.” The reason this warning haunts
me is because I can so easily see myself falling into this trap of giving
first priority to self preservation. I can urge Gerry, and encourage
her to urge her friend, to turn to hope in Jesus and place priority
on living in his will, because this is the same thing I have to keep
urging myself. As I read the dire events and predictions in the news,
I am prone to giving in to negativity and fear. It is right to be concerned
and to be prayerful, but I must be careful not to lose God’s perspective
on this world. Thankfully, I am learning, and he is working in me to
grow in faith, hope, and love regardless of the news or life’s
circumstances. My prayer is that he will continue to work in all of
us that we may grow in faith, hope, and love, (I Peter 1:3-9) for his
glory.
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