Where is your hope? Where do you put your trust, security, identity? Most people put their hope in family, careers, children..... All of those things are amazing! And that is exactly what I did, I believed the lie that my husband would complete me, my career would make my life matter, and my children would make me eternally happy. Don't get me wrong I have an amazing husband, the most awesome boys, and I had a very long enriching career. But what happens when all that is gone, as you age, you lose spouses, your children have their own families, and your career ends? Seems extremely dismal doesn't it? But does it have to be that way? How can you have all those things, enjoy those things, but then still have hope and joy at all stages of life? Or even have hope and joy if you have none of those things.
Since my retirement, the world has experienced immense grief, loneliness, financial hardship, racial unrest, confusion, sickness, depression, anxiety, war, hate, and natural disasters, and when you're retired and sitting on your sofa watching all that in real time you can become extremely cynical and anxious. That was exactly what was happening to me. Leave it to me to retire right before the most isolating time in American history! I wasn't really able to enjoy anything, which lead me on my search for hope and real joy. A hope and joy that isn't based on our circumstances, but a real substantial, never changing hope. A Rock, you might say, on which to stand. So, in typical Sharla fashion, and for less than noble reasons, I joined every Bible Study I could find. I was wanting to know the Bible better, but I was also looking for social interaction too. I have to say it was the best thing I ever did! Right now I am in three different groups! All equally beautiful and wonderful and original in their own right. I have come to love these ladies so much. They are my sisters in Christ, and I will forever be grateful for what I am learning from them. So what have I learned?
I'm glad you asked:) I have learned that we definitely need each other! We need friendships with other believers to encourage, correct, and even rebuke us. God made us for fellowship, not to be lone vessels navigating life. The next thing I have learned is that our lives on this earth are just blips! They are vapors, here today and gone tomorrow, so we better make good use of our time. Not in a frenzy kind of way, but we need to enjoy the day, live in the present, and not worry about tomorrow. That is very easy to say, but not as easy to do, so how do we do that? How do we get rid of anxiety and fear? WE LOOK UP! You concentrate on what is good, noble, and just? What is good, noble, and just in this world? God and His word! There is soo much wisdom and hope contained in the Bible, even in the hard things and the hard books. The Bible as a whole is a complete story of God's redemption of His people and the world from beginning to end. Once you know the whole story you can breathe a sigh of relief and find hope and joy even in the hard times, because you know God's redemption of us and this world will one day be complete. That's great news!
Nonetheless, on this journey, I have encountered concepts that weren't bringing me hope right now in the middle of my messy life. At my loneliest moments, at my darkest times, I kept thinking to myself, I need hope right now God. Heaven or your return seems so far away, how does that bring hope and joy right now in our darkest places? Especially, if I still know and love people that don't know you yet. I wanted hope for right now. Today.... When the world around us keeps getting darker and darker, when our loved ones are enduring horrible life threatening illnesses, or our financial burdens are weighing heavy on us, or one of our kids are leaving the faith, or living in a time where wars are breaking out, how can we have hope in the present? I desperately have been searching for that answer through sermons, podcasts, books, and studying the Bible, and here's the thing. Every time I would hear preachers preach about the end times or Jesus returning or judgement, the way I heard it sounded extremely scary to me. It shouldn't have, but it did. Not because I felt unforgiven or lost, but because if Christ returned right now, all I could think about is how many people would be separated from Him eternally. When I looked at social media or the news and saw such visceral hate on people's faces, I imagined them stuck in an eternal hell, and it really began haunting me. When I saw the world getting darker and darker, it felt like evil was winning. But guess what, that's exactly what the disciples must have felt when Jesus was being nailed to the cross. They had seen such hope, the blind could see, the deaf could hear, the lame could walk, and then all of a sudden their Savior who had made that happen was breathing what they thought was His last breath. Even though they knew He said He would rise again, at their darkest moment, THEY FORGOT. And now in 2022, I too tend to forget all the wonderful things He has said! So I would like to remind myself and you of Christ's words of hope....
First and foremost, Jesus loves you. He loves you enough to die on a cross for you. He paid the ultimate sacrifice to bridge the gap between you and God so you can stand righteous before Him, that you can become His Child, and have all the inheritance that a Father gives His children. Once you become His Child by faith, you no longer have to ever fear death! You will never die, you will just leave this world and wake up with the Father. Christ conquered sin and death! The same resurrection power that raised Christ from the dead, is given to every believer to overcome sin. When you put your faith in Christ, you become a living stone, just as Christ is a living stone, being built up into a holy temple. That means when you place your hope and identity in being a child of God, He makes you a totally new creature, and He starts working on you through all things, good and bad, to make you more like him. He makes you more loving, generous, kind, patient, self controlled, and as each individual believer dies to self, they come together to be a part of Christ's kingdom, and that kingdom continues to grow. So on earth, that looks like Christians infiltrating the earth with goodness. That looks like racial equality, that looks like food pantries for the poor, that looks like programs to help the disabled find their purpose in the world, that looks like being a Big Brother or Big Sister to a struggling kid, that looks like prison ministry, that looks like babysitting for single moms or single dads, that looks like trade workers doing their best job to make spaces better and lives better, it looks like people putting in an honest days work, it looks like putting your grocery cart back, or picking up litter. It looks like infiltrating the darkness with the brightest lights!! Until one day when Christ returns and gives us a new heaven and a new earth to continue all these good things in, but then they will be done perfectly. Until then we will still battle our flesh, and so we won't be perfect, but that will be our goal. Loving Christ with all our hearts, mind, and soul. Loving each other as we love ourselves. And remembering in the hard places, that God is working whatever you are going through to make you better, to make you more like Him. If you are Christ's, you can trust him to redeem you. He did not come to condemn the world but to save us! Put your faith and hope in the only One who is worthy, Jesus Christ, and all things will seem dim in the light of His glory and grace. Being a Christian should never be boring or hopeless. We have a great commission! Let's bring light to the darkness!
