Besides reading and hearing about how many have become hopeless or feel hopeless, I have also had more and more conversations about how people feel hopeless. I hear how Society is going in the wrong direction, and our morals and values are trampled upon, and our way of life is being destroyed or hindered somehow. Unfortunately, what is surprising about these conversations and the articles of hopelessness is that Christians are saying they are hopeless and that the world is hopeless. The people who are called to be the people full of hope and love are the same ones who show very little of either in their interactions and conversations.
Why is that? Anyone who has studied history can tell you of times that were much more difficult than what we experience today. Also, through the study of history, we can argue that there is no reason to have less hope today than people in the past. I will share some general examples below.
We know now that people are healthier and wealthier than at any time in history. True, there are pockets where that is not the case, but in general, it is. We know that freedoms have increased for most people throughout the world, and people are freer to live their lives in relative freedom. We are aware there is still a lot of oppression of women and people of color that needs resolving, but again we are heading in a generally positive direction.
We also know through history that bad things happen to “good” people (whatever good is supposed to mean). We also know that good things happen to “good” people. Those who we consider bad also get both the good and the bad.
We know through history that people in power like to stay in power and will do whatever they can to remain so. Reflect on your history classes from school, and you will see several examples where this is the case. We could come up with several examples in our institutions where this has happened and continues to happen. So, this is not a new phenomenon.
We also know through history that people have crossed borders legally and illegally, that governments fluctuate between conservative and liberal ideologies, that some people hate other races. In contrast, others do their best to love and reconcile. We know the stock market can go up and down and that the price of groceries and gas will increase. We know the climate changes and always has. Again nothing new is happening, or as Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:9…
“That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.”
Nothing that we are experiencing is new, and the world is no worse off than it ever has been; we happen to be living in this broken world now, and as humans, we focus on the now and focus on our desires and well-being. It is natural. People have been doing it since the beginning of time. It is how we survive as a species.
Even though we know that this is how it has been and how it will continue to be, the people of God should be people of hope. Why? Because we believe in a God that gives us the spirit of hope. Throughout the Hebrew scriptures and into the New Testament, we are given glimpses of hope through narration, prayer and song. From Genesis through Revelation, we are given a promise of hope from a God who desires to dwell in His creation and dwell with those he created.
It may be difficult for you to believe it, based on the misguided teachings of Revelation, but it is a letter about hope. A letter to the churches in Asia in the first century and today about how God wants to renew his creation and bring heaven and earth together, forever. We are to live with hope because we live with a promise that all things will be made new, not that new things will be made, but all of creation will be renewed. That you, me, and all people of God’s creation, including heaven and earth, will be made new. I encourage you to hold on to that promise of hope.
Matthew Dillingham
Executive Pastor
