Hope Together

Hope Together

Camaraderie is paramount to healthy living. One of the earliest pieces of advice I got as a young man starting out in marriage was to find friends that we both could share and develop deep meaningful relationships with them because when life gets rough, those friendships will be your life boat. The same advice was given to me later on in a ministry context. Seldom has any truer words ever been spoken to me. I read one definition for the word, camaraderie - “a spirit of good friendly fellowship.” I think that aligns pretty well with our overall perception and use of the word. And, it is so needed these days. I would argue that there is no better place to find that level of genuine, authentic care and concern, than in the church. Not a Sunday morning service but in community. I think we can all agree that life sucks at times. It just does. We can choose to hide from the bullets whizzing by us or we can choose to stand alone in the face of it and get ourselves shot. However, there is a third option that is way better. And let me be clear, standing alone, even as a Christian, is just dumb. The third option is to surround yourselves with like-minded believers, develop strong relationships with them and let them help you in the fight. Live together and die together and with Jesus in your midst you will have hope in victory, even in death.

Restorative Hope

Difficult times come to everyone. Even the most well equipped, well trained, well prepared person has difficulties throughout their life. No one is exempt. Though, at times, it can certainly feel like some people have all the luck and catch all the breaks. Difficulties are a part of this life. It is a natural part of what we call this broken world. It comes as a result of sin in the world. The rest is simply because we are humans and as such, we simply are not perfect, no matter how hard we try to be or may think that we are. There are just some days that feel as though God sat down with Satan and hashed out a plan to test our limits like the story of Job. The truth is, if you read that story close enough, you will find that God didn't do any bargaining that day. He never does. He simply allowed something to happen but he gave it perimeters. The hope for us in that story is not that God is battling for us or that he is wiser than us or that he was here before us. That is all true. There is no doubting any of that. The real hope for us is that God is so big and so powerful and so large and in charge that Satan had to ask permission. He would never admit that is what he had to do. Satan is that type that would claim that he pulled one over on God or that his cunning and crafty wit is what gave him some victory over God in Job's life but in reality, he had to ask permission. And God, being God, didn't sweat it because with the snap of his fingers Job was restored to, not just like new condition but rather, better than new condition. That is what God does. He doesn't bargain with us. He allows us to live our lives and mess it up like we are so prone to do. But he is there to pick us up and restore us to better than new condition. That is our hope!