Hope...It's Not For The Fainthearted!

But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with endurance.

Romans 8:25 

 

Christmas...that time when we celebrate.  We celebrate family.  We celebrate with eating....LOTS of eating.  We celebrate with gifts.  We celebrate the hope for the new year to come.  

 

But what does it mean to "hope"?  Here's the best definition I have found thus far: "Hope" is the confident expectation of what God has promised.  How does that grab you?  Remember WAY back in Jeremiah 29:11?  God reminds us, "I have plans for you. Plans to prosper you, not harm you."  Therefore, we hold God's promise as our hope.  We wait expectantly for the fulfillment of God's promise.

 

There are those who will try to tell you that having hope in God's promises is just a load of hot air, but ask yourself this: Has God EVER made a promise that He did not keep?  EVER?  Nope!  God has never once made a promise only to yank back the curtain and say "Tah Dah, I was just kidding SUCKER!"  

 

When God promises, you can wait expectantly because He ALWAYS fulfills His promises!!!

Everything You Do

And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Colossians 3:17 

 

Did you realize that if you claim to be a Christian you are under a great scrutiny?  Believe it or not, as a Christian, when you go to a restaurant people will look to see if you are generous or cheap.  People will notice if you are given too much change at the store and whether or not you keep it.  People, for some reason, seem to look for reasons to shout to the world that Christians are evil because Christians aren't perfect.

 

But that's people.  And people are people.  

 

Christians are expected to reflect the love of Christ in everything they say and everything they do.  That is a tall order.  It's an even taller order in a world where any perceived imperfection is pointed out and broadcast.

 

I like the way that Paul reminds us to act with gratitude, regardless of what others say: "WHATEVER you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus."  He doesn't say, in some things.  He declares that we are to strive to be so grateful that whatever we do reflects the love of Christ.  

 

This is one of the many things I struggle with.  When people aren't grateful, I am expected to be grateful.  When people are disrespectful, I am expected to be respectful.  When people are hateful, I am expected to be loving.  It is a true struggle, but when we focus our hearts on God, and remember that we work for Him...we don't fail as often.

 

 

Time To Actually DO Something!

But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!”
Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.”
“Yes, come,” Jesus said.
So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.
Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”
When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. Then the disciples worshiped him. “You really are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.
Matthew 14:27-32 

We hear it frequently...."I can't."  I hear it quite often from people who CAN but just want someone else to do it for them.  

Children are very good at this little game:

     Parent: Help me carry the groceries into the house.

     Child: I can't!  I am already doing something.

Sound familiar?  You see, we use "I can't" in place of "I don't want to" with astounding regularity.  And the truly sad part of this, is instead of holding the "I can't" accountable, we just sigh and do everything ourselves because "I don't want to" start an argument.

Here's an eye-opener for you: Almost every miracle Jesus performed, He required the recipient to DO something.  When Peter wanted to walk on water, Jesus didn't magically transport him out of the boat, He told Peter to DO something!  

Jesus told Peter "Come" which meant Peter had to:

•  gather the courage within himself, 
• step out of the boat, 
• TURN LOOSE OF THE BOAT, 
• ignore the raging storm around him,
•  and walk.

In Mark 2:1-12, a paralyzed man was lowered through the roof of a house by his friends.  The man was paralyzed, yet Jesus told him in verse 11:

• stand up
• pick up your mat
• go home

You'd think, because the man was paralyzed, Jesus would simply take pity on him and not expect anything from him.  Taking pity on someone, and you might not like this but it's true, means you have GIVEN UP on that person!  Having Compassion means you are willing to help but you expect effort from them in return.

 

We see this quite often from those who want you to give them ______ (housing, food, money, insert your favorite "help me request") without any effort on their part being expected or required.  It might sound harsh, if we were not supposed to actually put forth any effort, God would have created the Universe to revolve around us and everything on the Earth would be so easy, that we could lay around in our floatie chairs and do nothing!

 

People actually make it their life's mission to seek pity from others so they don't have to DO anything for themselves!  And many of us will sacrifice everything we have (life savings, time, effort, relationships, you name it) so the pity seeking person will not be inconvenienced by actually being expected to DO anything for themselves.  

 

1. Helen Keller - was born deaf AND blind, yet learned to overcome her disabilities to become an inspiration to others.
2. Tom Dempsey - was born without toes on his right foot and without fingers on his right hand, yet on November 8, 1970 he kicked the game winning 63-yard field goal for New Orleans against Detroit.
3. Stephen Hawking - has become paralyzed due to motor neurone disease and can now communicates using a single cheek muscle attached to a speech-generating device, yet is an author, lecturer, and professor.

We hear about marathon runners who use prosthetic legs.  We hear about blind mountain climbers. We hear story after story about people who decided that they wanted to DO instead of receive pity.

 

Here's my point: If Jesus expected those He helped to DO for themselves (thus, removing their excuses) who are we to do otherwise?