I think that we’re wired for hope. It’s how God has made us. Joy can be experienced in looking ahead to
good things. We enjoy planning our
holidays. We may feel a sense of
excitement as we get ready for a wedding or a party.
It’s a very serious thing when people lose hope. I remember going through a time of depression
and feeling all hope was gone. I had
never felt this type of low before, and I feared that it would never lift. It did lift.
I have talked to psychiatric professionals who assure me that the very
darkest feelings almost always pass.
When I meet friends that are going through such dark times I try to
assure them that it will not always be like this.
Christian hope is sure hope.
It is not like my hope that the Munster rugby team will win the European
Cup next year. Our hope in Christ is
certain. It is like when the Munster
team go into the last play of the game more than seven points up. The game doesn’t end until the play is over,
but the opposition can’t score enough points in that play to overturn the
result. The final whistle has not blown,
but I can start celebrating in the terraces.
The apostle Paul said that faith, hope and love remain for
all eternity (1 Cor. 13:13). It would
seem that hope will be a feeling we experience in heaven. Hope is looking forward in anticipation. I don’t know how time will work in heaven,
but it is as if we will be saying, ‘today was great, can’t wait for tomorrow.’ There will always be things there to look
forward to.
Jesus gave hope to
troubled people
The gospels are full of the love of Jesus. On every page we see His compassion and love. This is clearly the case on the night before
the crucifixion. That evening, when
Jesus needed the disciples’ comfort more than ever before, He actually comforts
them.
Jesus knows what awaits those disciples in the coming hours
will be very stressful. In fact, that
night Jesus warned all of us that we can expect trouble in this life (Jn.
16:13). So, what does Jesus do to
prepare them for the difficulties they are going to face? Jesus tells them to trust Him, and to look
ahead to what awaits them. He gives them
something to look forward to. He gives
them a sure and certain hope.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in
God; believe also in me. My Father’s house
has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going
there to prepare a place for you?’ (Jn. 14:1-2).
The cross and the
resurrection are the grounds of our hope
When you think about Jesus preparing a place in heaven for you,
don’t think in terms of Jesus tidying a room in the Father’s house or hanging your
favourite pictures on the wall. Think of
Him hanging on a cross. Jesus is telling
the disciples that it is through His going—via the cross and resurrection—that
He is preparing for us a place in the Father’s home.
Jesus looks forward to
being with us
But I don’t live thinking about heaven all the time. I am more likely to look forward to my summer
holiday than I am to think of the eternity that lies beyond this life. I think our apathy towards heaven may be
because we have no idea how great it will be.
In fact, if you view of heaven as simply an eternal church service, then
maybe you secretly dread it.
Heaven promises lots of wonderful things. There will be no more sickness or pain. God’s ways will no longer be a frustrating
mystery to us. God Himself will comfort
us. We will be reunited with Christian
family and friends. But the most
important thing about heaven in that Jesus is there.
Look at the goal of Jesus’ work. ‘I go to prepare a place for you, that where
I am you may be there also.’ One of the
puritans explained that it’s as if Jesus was saying, ‘the truth is I can’t live
without you, I shall never be quiet until I have you where I am, that we may
never part again … Heaven will not hold me, nor my Father’s company, if I have
not you with me, my heart is so set on you; and if I have my glory, you shall
have part of it.’[i] We could say that Jesus enjoys the certain
hope of being with us for ever.
So how does hope help
us now?
Sometimes things happen in church that seem to show that the
Holy Spirit is guiding the meeting. I
was speaking in church on these ideas on hope when my friend Angela got up to
pray. ‘Before I pray, let me just read a
couple of verses.’ She began with Romans
12:12, ‘be joyful in hope.’ That’s
exactly it. Our hope is to give us
joy. Deep joy. Jesus saw that the disciples would face
difficulties in this life, and He responds with a trust me, and then gives them
the sure grounds on which to build their eternal hope. Knowing that any trouble that we face in life
will pass gives us reason for joy. Knowing
that He looks forward to us being with Him in our Father’s house gives us joy.
Recognise the goodness
of hope. Every time you find
yourself looking forward to a coming holiday or a party take note of how God
has wired you. We are wired to look
forward in anticipation. All our hope is
a taste of an inner longing for heaven.
Indeed, every wedding should feed that longing for the heavenly banquet
(Rev. 19:6-9), as should ever time we enjoy praising God (Rev. 4-5). Think of the dynamic of hope for Jesus. Jesus endured the cross for the joy that lay
before Him (Heb. 12:2)
Even earthly hope can give us joy. I remember one time when I suffering from
severe exam stress. One of the ways I
calmed my mind was to realise that in a few weeks the exams would be over and I
would be on my holidays. The depressed
person can look forward with the hope that this too will pass. There may tears in the night, but joy comes
in the morning (Ps. 30:5).
Recognise that all
other hopes fall short. It’s not
wrong to look forward to when the illness has passed or the holiday has
begun. Such hope is good for us. I believe that we should regularly be
thinking about those good things that we are looking forward to. That is part of our fight for joy. However, all our hopes fall short other than
our hope in Jesus. If we think that
another experience or person can complete us, then we will be left demanding
and frustrated, and you will squeeze the life out of your friendships.
Taste the person we
hope in. Even now our experience of
Jesus is incomplete. We do not yet know
Him fully (1 Cor. 13:12). We have not
yet seen Him face to face. We still see
dimly as in a mirror. But we can taste
Him. We can spend time with Him. We can experience Him through His
people. At times we even feel Him within
us.
Whenever you feel the presence of God, take note, that is a
taste of heaven. If you are struggling
to feel the presence of Jesus does not mean that He is not with you. It may simply be your circumstances affecting
your mood. Remember those times when you
did feel His love. Those times will
return. Indeed, they were just a sample
from the heavenly banquet that awaits us.
We look forward to our heavenly rest. We will see that in our last chapter. But first, let’s pray.
‘Lord, I believe.
Help me in my unbelief. Teach me
to enjoy spending time listening and talking with you. May I see something of You in the love of
Your people. Please send the Holy Spirit
to move me to cry out, “Abba, father.”
Let the unsatisfied longings for perfect love to cause me to look to the
sure hope of what is to come. May I
never forget that the pain of this moment will soon be past, and that for the
Christian the best is yet to be. Amen.’
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