Word of Encouragement (6/10/2021)
We are reflecting on Paul’s prayer in 1 Thess. 1:2-3: “We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Today, we will reflect on the “steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
An inevitable outcome of hope is steadfastness. (The Greek word is often translated also as endurance.) As true faith produces work and true love is expressed in sacrificial labor, so is true hope manifested in steadfastness. This is obvious, isn’t it? When we have something we hope for, we can remain steadfast. Jacob was able to endure seven years of indentured servitude for the hope of marrying the love of his life, Rachel (and seven more years due to Laban’s treacherous deception). Abraham was able to wait twenty-six long years, from the age of seventy-five to one hundred, until God’s promise of an heir was fulfilled in the birth of Isaac, though he faltered here and there. And for how many years did Noah have to build the ark while waiting for the flood God promised? One hundred twenty years! All through those long years, Noah had to live through all kinds of ridicule and mockery from the people and keep building the ark. When our heart is firmly anchored on hope, we can endure much and long.
The steadfastness of hope depends largely on two things: how reliable what we hope for is; how strong our hope is. First, it’s easy to see that the stronger our hope is, the greater our steadfastness will be also. A parent, whose child is motivated and studies hard, wouldn’t mind working hard at 2-3 different jobs to provide a better education for him because of his hope for his child. That would be hard for a child, who is lazy and not motivated at all.
The second is the reliability of what we hope for. Here we see that not all hopes are the same. We find some people’s steadfast devotion to their hope inspiring. But we see other people’s dogged perseverance to their hope and we feel sorry for them. Why? While there are hopes that are certainly worthy of our steadfastness (every second of it!), there are hopes that are delusional, to put it bluntly.
What are you hoping for these days? Is there something that you have been hoping for for a long time? How reliable is your hope? Benjamin Franklin said that there are only two things that are certain in life: death and taxes. I’m sure his mention of the taxes was tongue-in-cheek. But other than death, there’s nothing in life that is 100% guaranteed. Whatever we may hope in this world falls in the other category of uncertainty.
How about our hopes as Christians? The Christian hope is ultimately in God Himself, in His divine, unchangeable character. This is important because our circumstances often seem contrary to the good God promised for His people. But we must not judge God according to the constantly changing circumstances of our lives; rather, we must interpret our situation according to the eternal, unchanging character of God. We must not forget that God’s eternal plan, which is for our good, is being worked out in time and space. As C.S. Lewis said, “In the fallen and partially redeemed universe we may distinguish (1) the simple good descending from God, (2) the simple evil produced by rebellious creatures, and (3) the exploitation of that evil by God for His redemptive purpose, which produces (4) the complex good to which accepted suffering and repented sin contribute" (The Problem of Evil). Because the complex good of God works itself out in time, evil seems to prevail for a while until God produces the complex good out of it. Consider the cross of Jesus Christ: God used it to accomplish our salvation.
Ironically, the ultimate hope we have is the complete end of hope itself! We hope to live in a time and a place where hope is not necessary at all because all our hopes are fully realized and there is nothing more to hope for. Can we expect such a place and time in this world? No, only in heaven where we shall have access to the infinite riches of God, not the limited resources of this world; where we shall dwell with God forever in His presence; where “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4). This hope deserves our steadfastness, doesn’t it? May this hope enable us to persevere through all the challenges and setbacks we are bound to experience in this life as more than conquerors!