Keep Hope Alive
Grabbing on to Hope and never
letting Go
By Pastor Adam Fox
Since early December I have
been waiting eagerly and anxiously. Major League Baseball opened there Free
Agency Period then and allowed the players who have no contract to join the
team of their choice.
As an unashamed White Sox
fan, this year's free agency period gave me some hope, hope for a winning
season and a World Series title. I and the faithful few of us Sox nerds
have been desiring two players to sign with the White Sox, Manny Machado and
Bryce Harper. Both Harper and Machado can pick any team and earn hundreds of
millions of dollars to play a game.
But I want them. Harper
roaming the outfield on the Southside of Chicago, and Machado on the
hot-corner. Is it likely for either of the players to sign with the Chicago
White Sox for hundreds of millions of dollars? No. Do I want them and see a
good fit? Yes. But that is why I can hope.
Hope is a fun thing. But
what really is hope? Hope can be defined as "a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen."
And that is exactly what I am enjoying about this feeling. I can desire and
expect things for my baseball team but I am not sure that this hope in a
baseball player is sustainable or foundational for my life
I can have
hope in plenty of things in my life. That I will drop these 15 pounds. That our
elected leaders will put the needs of the people above business. When I sit
down - the chair will not break. Hope can be in a lot of things, but none of
these will drive me or motivate me - let alone sustain me.
I believe
that we should be hoping for more, in a greater or more worth while
things. While some put there hope in justice (looking at you Batman) or
hope in love, the sciences or the kindness of strangers. But to me, while these
are admirable and things for us to believe in and do often, they are not great
enough.
We should
instead be putting of hope and faith in God above our desires to hope in
baseball, or congress, or other men. But let's be honest, the things or people
we hope in sometimes fail. Harper may sign with the New York Yankees (ewwwww)
congress does not always do what is best for the common Joe, bad people get away
with literal murder. And so on. Being hopeful can be disappointing, frustrating
even. But no matter how difficult or frustrating things of this world and
life maybe - God will never disappoint us.
Why are
you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God. Psalm 42:11
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God. Psalm 42:11
Hoping in God is something
that will never disappoint us. John Bunyan said "Hope has a thick
skin and will endure many a blow". Hope is resilient and nearly
indestructible, which is why people can be disappointed night after night
(looking at you Bulls basketball fans) and still believe in things to
come.
That should be us as
Christians! Having a thick skinned hope in God and the promises of the Bible,
just like Abram did. "Father Abraham" was called by God to leave his
comfort zone, his family, his everything because God called him to do so. In
Genesis 12, God makes a promise with Abram who was childless and landless in
order for him to be the founder of the nation and people of Israel - God's
people.
Was this a
frightening calling? Yes to me it was. But through his life God blessed him and
his family and so many others greatly because of the hope and trust in
God.
Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your
country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
4 So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot
went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed
from Haran.
Abram
later to be called Abraham, is someone that I find so fascinating. At the age
of 75, he broke from the comfort of his family and lifestyle to do as God said.
Because God told Him to do so, to start a nation. And there is where the great hope comes from, a
promised family. God told them that they would be the father and mother of a
great nation meaning that they would start one.
Could you imagine, being a
parent to an infant at the prime age of 100? The oldest two mothers on record
are both 55 years old, this would blow the record off by decades. But God made
them a promise, a covenant, and God has yet to disappoint. They could hope and
not be disappointed because God was with them and fulfills his promises and
that goes for us too.
As modern Christians, we
have plenty to hope for in things still to come. God is coming back (amen and
amen) and soon I hope. And because of this great hope that exists in our risen
Lord and Savior, we can look at our circumstances and not crumble. Because God
is alive and reigning in Heaven, we as Christians are instilled with hope. A
hope that exists in this life and the up and down parts of life as well as hope
in the afterlife. So we can confidently place our hope in what God has
written to us in Revelation will come true.
12 “And behold, I am coming
quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one
according to his work. 13 I am the Alpha and the
Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” Revelation 22
While I
can put my hope in congress or in a baseball team trying to sign a player,
these will not always end well. Instead, hoping in God and the truths in His
word will never disappoint you.
Cheers and
Excelsior!
Pastor Adam
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