But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.
The world we live in is used to despair, to hopelessness, to trauma and disappointment. It is used to disease, to poverty, to distress and to every kind of decay and rottenness in humanity. The world is used to such things. What they are not used to is – HOPE.
As such, this is the thing that distinguishes Christians from the rest of the world. We have Jesus and because of him we have hope.
Needless to say, this hope leads to all kinds of strange, incomprehensible behavior. Because the world does not understand your hope, they will not understand your behavior. And because you are such a puzzle, they can either choose to:
Love you
Hate you
Why would they choose option 1? Simply because the most beautiful thing you can ever offer anyone is a sense of mystery. Also because you provide a platform of hope that no other in the world can provide. And it is so much easier to love you with the divine favour of Christ wrapped all around you.
Sadly, most people would choose option 2. It is in fact, the default option. People will automatically dislike people they do not understand. So perhaps the best options for hopies like us is to explain ourselves like Peter 1 3:15 says - Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.
When something bad happens, people will have to cope with an influx of helplessness, depression and hopelessness. To cope, they build up a wall of strength, feigned confidence, convincing themselves that they can solve any problem at hand. This positive mindset might work for a while but after awhile, they find themselves inevitably overwhelmed.
Instead of providing assistance to these overwhelmed people, the world can be harsh and indifference. Our victims of live move from being overwhelmed to becoming in a state of absolute shock. They are shocked by how harsh the world can be. To protect themselves, to grow (as the world believes), they harden their hearts and become unfeeling, unemotional, inhumane creatures.
Jesus replied, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” (Luke 18:27)
This is where we differ. When men disappoint us, we still have hope. And this hope, the hope that comes from Jesus does not disappoint us. So, we are always happy because we have a God that is always above all our circumstances. Our God is so powerful that he could part the red sea. So whatever your circumstances today, God can fix it. And because of this hope, we do not have to worry or to harden our hearts.
Perhaps, as ambassadors of hope, you will have to suffer some persecution, but fear not, the path of the righteous shines brighter and brighter. When you put Jesus in the center of your life, everything else fades under his splendor and you are no longer so bothered by the small insignificant affairs of everyday life.
The world is lost. They need clear instructions as to how to live. How to live the life God has planned for them to live. A life where blessings flow abundantly and peace and joy resides within every magical moment of the day. A life that is so beautiful it makes waking so much more pleasant than sleeping. But to lead this kind of life, you need the word of God.
In life, only one thing is needful – to sit at Jesus’s feet and listen to his word.
I never use to understand this theory. In fact, the best time of my life has not been defined by the circumstances I was in. It was defined by how much time I spent in God’s word. It is hard to describe it in words. Perhaps a chart would better describe it:
Circumstances
Time spent in God’s word
Quality of life
Poor
Much
Fantastic
Good
Much
Fantastic
Poor
Little
Poor(traumatic)
Good
Little
Poor (empty)
It is really the only factor that matters. Our circumstances are like the weather. Like the weather, our circumstance changes so rapidly. But one principle remains. People are naturally drawn to God in the face of adversity. And in the process they find themselves delving deeper into the word of God ONLY in the face of hardship. It is ironic that it is during the hard times, where I struggle with my nasty circumstances but find time to comfort myself with the word of God that I feel the most fulfilled. Perhaps I should rephrase. The word of God comforts me.
Moral of the story? We should all spend time with the word of God in ALL our circumstances whether it is good or poor. That is the only thing that matters. A prosperous life that is peaceful and smooth sailing will become boring and meaningless without God. A life of disease and persecution will lead to a downward spiral of hopelessness and depression without God.
But in the presence of God, poor circumstances only lead to development of strength and character. And good circumstances become opportunities to bless others in God’s kingdom. Instead of emptiness, you will be filled with purpose.
What is spending time in God’s word? Some people read the word; some hear recordings of the word. For me, nothing can exceed the pleasure I get from reading God’s word and writing blog entries about it. It is this process of studying each verse and blending it with my own personal experience that creates a Godly smoothie of peace and joy within me.
I used to believe that this Godly smoothie was only a coping strategy for hard times. But now I realize that I need this smoothie everyday. It is the very thing that renews my mind each day by removing the junk of this world - the nonsense, hopelessness, paranoia and negativity and replacing these nonsense with Godly thoughts - Nothing is impossible with God, God will supply every need in accordance to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus, If God is for me, no weapon formed against me shall prosper.
Life itself is not easy. I believe that God has the best examples for this point. It is all over the bible. But lets consider the picture of the disciples on the ship amidst the storm. It is so easy to get lost in the circumstances. In fact, the circumstances are so overwhelming. Death is at your doorstep. Who can have the faith to keep calm and believe that God is in control of all things? In fact, it is just human nature to help ourselves, to try to pull in the sails, try to off load the ship. And when finally, we are out of options, we choose to wake Jesus up for help.
And after we ask for help, we doubt that the help would arrive. We live in fear that Jesus has abandoned us to our own devises. But listen clearly, Jesus ALWAYS answers. Jesus woke up and called to the winds. The storm was ended.
It is so easy to focus on the winds and the rain. To focus on the things we can hear, the emotions we feel, the pains that attack us so mercilessly. And similarly, it is easy to humanize Jesus and reduce him to the natural. After all, he looks and feels just like us. He is after all 100% man and 100% God. But please resist this tendency to underestimate Jesus.
The only way, we can feel the peace amidst the storm is to be firmly aware of the following 3 points:
Jesus is the son of God
Jesus is the most powerful being in this world
Jesus is for you. (God is on your side)
Well, most Christians do get past the first two points. They know it but they don’t really understand it. It takes a revelation to understand the greatness of the first two points. With that said, it takes an even greater amount of faith to internalize the third point. After all, years of education has taught us the principle of do good get good, do bad get bad. How can God be for us when we have done so many bad things? We can’t shake off the mindset that Jesus is our ultimate judge.
The truth is - Jesus was never sent to judge us. Nor was he sent to condemn us. He was sent to love us, to provide for us and fill the void within us that only he can fill. The church was meant to be a beacon of hope for the hopeless, not a school of law. And more so in recent years when our lives are so filled with lies and hopelessness. Everyday we are in desperate need of Jesus (manna).
Therefore, the church can no longer be negligent in proclaiming the grace of God. We have to drum into the heads of our people the benefits of the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus:
Forgiveness of all our sins
Redemption from all destruction
Healing of all our disease and
The fulfilling of our desires with good things that our youth is renewed like the eagles.
(Psalms 103)
They must know it before they can receive it! Proclaim the gospel (good news) of Christ and see lives being transformed.
