Here on earth you will have many temporary trials and sorrows but fear not! Because the God you serve has already overcome this world. Anything we might face He has already overcome. Our peace is in Him; our hope is in Him. We cannot put our hope and seek peace in the things of this world because it is fleeting, temporary and will always disappoint us. We place our hope and rest our peace upon the economy and then get our job outsourced. We place our hope and rest our peace upon politicians and then see them lie to our faces. We even place our hope and rest our peace upon our human relationships and friendships only to watch as we are betrayed. But God always provides. God never lies. God never betrays us. That is why we have peace in Him. That is why we hope in Him.
Continuing in the key verses we see that our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an
eternal glory that far outweighs them all. Now I understand that the troubles
we face sure do not seem very light and momentary when we are facing them but
that is exactly the struggle that is going on. The enemy and the world system
will insist that the problems we face are insurmountable. They will insist that
we cannot survive them. They will insist that we are even alone when facing
them. These insistences are the seeds of hopelessness. This is the breeding
ground for despair. When we take our light and momentary problems and blow them
up and out of the proportion they should have in our lives compared to the
eternal promises we have in God -- that is how we find ourselves feeling like we
cannot go on. But God does not leave us there!
Finally in the key verses we see
the secret to basking in the hope of God! We must not just fix our eyes and
thoughts on the eternal but we must renew ourselves every day in them! God
understands and acknowledges here that outwardly we are indeed wasting away. We
live in a world that is passing away. It has been corrupted since the fall of
man and dying ever since. As we now enter into the last days we can expect that
things will only grow worse. The love of most will grow cold and wickedness
will only increase. The amount of things we can become despondent over will
only grow as this world continues to erode. But these things are all temporary
-- they are not eternal. We fight them by renewing ourselves each day. And
therein lies some of the root causes for our despair and hopelessness. Sure we
might pray when the going has already gotten tough but by then our faith is
impeded. Sure we might read the Word but not nearly as much as we need to.
Maybe we rely solely upon church activities to take care of our prayer and
Bible time. If that is the case we might feel hopeful on Sundays but what about
the rest of the week? How often are we seeking to renew our mind to the things
of God and away from the things of this world?
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of
this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be
able to test and approve what God's will is --his good, pleasing and perfect
will. -- Romans 12: 2 (NIV)
This transformation is not an
event it is a lifestyle change. It cannot be a reaction but rather it must be
proactive by nature. We must be seeking to renew our minds through prayer and
Scripture because we know that the world and the enemy will come against us.
Because we know that trials will come. We must realize that there is a daily
battle for out attention. There is a daily battle for what we will fix our eyes
and thoughts upon. The more you can win that battle for the eternal things of
the Lord the more hope you infuse into your being. The more hope you have
internalized, the less likely you are to blow up the temporary, light and
momentary troubles we will face in this world into being larger than the
eternal promises you have in God.
This battle is not easy. We live
in the world. We work in the world. God does not expect nor want us to live in
a Christian bubble. But we are supposed to infect the world with the Christ
that is inside of us not allow the world to infect us with the hopelessness inside
of them. Unfortunately, we can miss the mark so easily. We can allow the
temporary problems of this world affect our eternal perspective in God. But
wait a minute preacher -- what about the economy! Who cares -- God will provide!
What about the election, it's the most important of our lifetime, right? Wrong
-- the most important election was when you chose to invite Christ into your
heart. After that -- no other election matters. Do not look to man but only to
God! But what about" - beloved you can end that sentence anyway you want and it
does not change who God is, what God said, and who you are in relation to Him!
It just doesn't matter! These temporary and fleeting things do not matter in
the light of the fact that you are a chosen child of the one true God who spoke
everything into existence! THAT is what matters. THAT is what is eternal. THAT
is where our hope is. As the key verses say -- do not lose heart beloved.
CS Lewis once said, "Most people, if they had really learned to look into their
own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that
cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that
offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise. How true. We
are not very honest with ourselves. What we truly want this world cannot give
us. It can promise us everything but it delivers nothing but heartache and
disappointment. We cannot fix our eyes on the things that are passing away by
definition. We have eternal life now and we need to focus on that. We need to
focus on the things we cannot see but believe by faith. Strengthening our
prayer life in faith. Strengthening our knowledge of the promises of Almighty
God through consistent Bible reading. So that when the world and the enemy
whisper their lies that seek to blow our temporary trials out of proportion -- we know the
promises of God that assure us of who we are in eternity. I do not know where
this writing finds you today. I do not know the problems you face. But God does
and He sent this Word to you; especially for you. To assure you that He loves
you with an everlasting love. That He saved you with an eternal spirit. And
that He is with you now and to the end of this age. I leave you with a prayer
from the Apostle Paul:
May
the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the
power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope . - Romans 15:13 (NIV)
Abound in hope today beloved. Abound in hope.
