Called to Hope

This past Sunday Kit had the chance to fill in for our preacher, who had to go out of town. He spoke about "our call to hope" as Christians. I think we were all convicted of putting our hope in other things rather than in Jesus. He challenged us to have an "eternal perspective" on life, (rather than focusing on the temporary things of this world), to know the will of God through reading His word, and to view our sufferings as a blessing. I was must moved by the last point about the way we view sufferings and hardships. We automatically see our hardships as a bad thing and ask God to remove or fix them rather than rejoicing that we have an opportunity to depend on the Lord and to grow in our faith.

Romans 5:3-5 says, "...we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

I love the part that says "Hope does not disappoint." In another verse it says that 'our hope is Jesus Christ' and another that 'Jesus Christ does not disappoint'. That is truth! It is difficult when hard times come upon us to view it as an opportunity to build perseverance, character, and strengthen our hope. But that is my prayer for myself and my family. Because hard times are certain to come. I want to be able to look back at all the hard times in my life and see how God has helped me to persevere, has strengthened my character, and given me hope.

He gave a perfect example or our misconceptions on suffering. He said that when we hear of believers undergoing persecution, we pray that God would free them from it, disregarding the possibility that it might be God's will that they go through this persecution. He quoted a persecuted Christian in Egypt who said something along the lines that "Christianity without persecution is like ready-made food, shallow and bland." I don't want my faith to be shallow, even if that means I endure hardships or persecution in order to produce perseverance, character, and hope.

It is common for western Christians to hold the belief that following Christ will make your life easy and blessed. (Which is very un-biblical considering what Christ and His apostles went through). While it does give you a blessed life, that doesn't usually equal 'worldly' blessings. I was very guilty of holding this belief until I lost my mom. Undergoing that grief and all the questioning of my faith brought about perseverance, character, and greater hope in Christ for subsequent hardships. Although I miss my mom tremendously, the growth I've had in my relationship with the Lord because of her death, is priceless to me. I'm so grateful that He allows hard times to come upon us and even more grateful that He turns those hardships into life-transforming opportunities.

I'll end this with another quote from two Egyptian converts from Islam to Christianity who have undergone much hardship and persecution. " The first lesson we were taught is how to count the cost. In Egypt, our theology isthe theology of pain. It is not a theology of prosperity. We don't know the theology of prosperity, but we know Jesus." I'd rather know Jesus than the "theology of prosperity."