Hope is an important part of life. One can live through miserable times if they hope that the misery will give way like the darkness of night to the light of the dawn. I suppose this why God is constantly calling us to focus on our future with Him.
King David knew how to use hope to not only endure painful seasons but exult in God with great joy.
King David knew how to use hope to not only endure painful seasons but exult in God with great joy. One of my favorite examples is found in Psalm 17. David ends his song to God as he learns to take refuge in His wings by grounding everything in a future hope. He says, “As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness” (Psalm 17:15).
The Apostle John knew this well too and taught it to his little children, the believers in Ephesus. John taught them how to endure the various trials, toils, and heartache of life by fixing their gaze on a future hope. John said, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).
Focusing on our future, face to face with Christ, full fellowship with the Spirit, and wrapped in the love of the Father is difficult to do. But as my experience testifies, many of the most worth while things in life are at times, difficult. The struggle, the tension, the exertion, at least in my journey with our Lord, all leads to a giving away of the old, an appreciate of the present, and an anticipation of a future that is awe-inspiring and by His grace, life changing.
“We know not what we shall be; but we may be sure we shall be more, not less, than we were on earth.”
Let’s peer for a moment, into the mind of one of my favorite teachers whom I have never met but hope to in eternity, C.S. Lewis. In his book, the Weight of Glory, Lewis eloquently penned, “We know not what we shall be”; but we may be sure we shall be more, not less, than we were on earth. Our natural experiences (sensory, emotional, imaginative) are only like the drawing, like penciled lines on flat paper. If they vanish in the risen life, they will vanish only as pencil lines vanish from the real landscape, not as a candle flame that is put out but as a candle flame which becomes invisible because someone has pulled up the blind, thrown open the shutters, and let in the blaze of the risen sun.”
This week, spend some time with your Heavenly Father, who loves you dearly, and think about what He is molding you to become. Sit in this reality frequently enough, and long enough, until the reality of our Father’s love moves you to joy. And remember, you are loved.
Jeff is a disciple of Christ, a husband, a daddy, and served as senior pastor of Newark Community Church, in beautiful Newark, CA.
