Hope

Hope

Our hope is for a reconciled world, a world where we’re not separated from God, a life that we live looking forward to the day where we get to see our Lord. That hope comes from Jesus Christ.

The beginning of the Advent Season, for us Christians, is the final countdown before Christmas! Now, I don’t know about you, but Christmas is my favourite time of the year... hands down… it’s not even close. I love people, I love seeing people happy, I love doing things for people. One of my love languages is Acts of Service, but that’s a conversation for another day. Anyway, it’s my favourite holiday because, for the most part, people are happy and love each other. The lead up to the big day is… different. The entire atmosphere and people’s energies are just different. There’s beautiful music, there’s beautiful lights, there are people dressed up spreading Christmas cheer! I love it!

Now, we are able to do this today because the time leading up to Jesus’ birth, there was none of that for Mary and Joseph. If we look at the story up to the point where Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph had a rough time. They had to travel a long distance for the census, they get to Bethlehem only to be told that there was no room in the inn for them. Now, Mary is VISIBLY pregnant, there’s no hiding that she is going to give birth any day. So, inn keeper says, “I can let you stay with the animals… in the stable.” Now let’s take a second to think about that. First of all, I don’t know how they delivered children in that time… honestly, I don’t want to know. But on top of the possible complication that it was… to do it… by themselves… in a STABLE?! With all those ANIMALS around?! Uh-uh... But this is what I want us to keep in mind. Christ came into this world, the hope of the world, in one of the most humbling ways possible.

Jesus’ life was an example for us to follow. Without going into the deep theology of the Holy Trinity, we can say that Jesus knew the plan for himself on Earth. He knew that he would come as a baby, live as a human being to experience all that people experience BUT live PERFECTLY. And he knew he would pay the price for humanity. We look at the relationship that was displayed between Jesus, the Son, and God, the Father. We see that this relationship was one that was based on trust and reliance. On every occasion in the Word, we see Jesus speaking with the authority given to him by God.

Where does your hope lie? It’s a rhetorical question, but I would like us all to drop our Sunday School/Christianese answers for a moment and be truthful. We’ve been taught to put our trust and hope in God and not in man. Sometimes, I can admit that this isn’t always the case. Sometimes, I put my trust in my own abilities because I found success when I put my mind to things. Who else can relate to that?

Maybe we put our hope in a parent, a coach, a boss… another human. Anyone else guilty of this? Why do we do this, though? Is it because they’re the most capable to come through for us? Is it because we see their success with our own eyes? Where does our faith come in? The one thing with our Christianity is that it is based on our faith. We have faith in that which we cannot see. Although there is an argument to be made that we can see the Father’s hand in everything, but generally, people feel that they can “explain” everything that goes on in the world. 

So how do we put our hope and trust back into God? The number one answer, in my humble opinion, is to read your Word. The bible is God’s love letter to us. It is FILLED of stories and promises that God has made to his people, and as believers, these promises are extended to us as well.

James 1:2-4 says “consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

This is a promise that I, personally, hold near and dear to my heart. Many of you have probably heard me talk about this and how much it means to me. But I have to admit that I didn’t pay much attention to the latter half of the passage. “Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” This is telling me that, yes, we will go through tough times in life, but all that is doing is building us! God equips us for the battle that is life.

This is a promise that helps me to shift my perspective. I am a firm believer that if you change your perspective, you change your outcome. Are you turning your losses into lessons?  I feel that in our community, there are many “hot verses” that make appearances more often than others. These are verses that we can probably recite one or more translations of. Romans 8:28 is one of those verses.  “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

This is a great verse because it reinforces that God has our back. He carries us because we love him. We are those who have been called according to his purpose. Rarely do we look at the surrounding verses but let’s have a look at what God says to us.

Romans 8:24-28 says “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is NO HOPE AT ALL. Who hopes for what they have already have?” This is a challenge to our mindsets. Are we going to be people who only trust and place our hope in things we can see? Now back to the verse. “but if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Man, that is such powerful Word right there! And that’s not even the tip of the iceberg! There is so much in that short passage that we could honestly spend many weeks dissecting, but I want to take one thing away from it. The promise that as people, we don’t know what to pray for, but the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf. Meaning the Spirit speaks through us when we don’t have the words. God searches our hearts, and he knows the mind of the Spirit, so our prayers are in accordance with the will of God. Romans 8 is such a great chapter in the Bible, so I suggest you going to read it in its entirety. Shoot, just go read your Bible. I promise you’ll find something that will blow your mind!

Our hope in God should not be based on “what our parent’s say.” Sometimes, that’s all it is for us. We were raised that way, and so it can be easy to become “stale” in our faith. Or sometimes we find ourselves putting our hope in God in certain situations, be it good times or bad times. Our faith has to be worked. Just like any other muscle, it has to be worked. When it gets worked, it gets stronger. We need to remind ourselves to keep our faith in God at all times. Having our hope in God changes our hearts; it changes our perspective. We become more servant hearted. We become more confident. We begin to work towards a better future. “Let your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.”

Having our hope and trust in God changes simple tasks like buying a coffee for someone into ways to show a different type of LOVE to people. When I was in college, I studied Hospitality Management. In my first year, we learned that the first impression you make with a customer/client is called a “moment” and this is probably the most important time you have with that person. It sets the tone for the entire relationship. If we are genuine in our connection with the person and we show our willingness to serve and solve problems with them, then we are set up for success moving forward. With our hope in God, how much MORE does the love come forward in these moments? How much MORE do we give off warmth?

I was born in 1994, in Paynesville, Liberia. During our country’s first of two civil wars. My parents decided to leave Liberia in 1996 and go to Ghana. From Ghana, we moved to South Africa and then to Kenya. We then moved to Toronto in 2004 when I was 10. I can’t speak for myself here because I was a kid and didn’t know about the majority of what was going on, but I do know that it was only because of God’s grace that my parents could do all of that. They had hope.

They had hope of a future that didn’t involve running from a war. They had hope that they were able to raise a healthy and happy family. They passed on this hope to me and my brother. We grew up just outside of Toronto in a town called Oakville. We played sports, played the piano, went to school, nothing out of the ordinary for most kids. We dreamed, we worked, we prepared. We had hope… but it changed.

I was lucky enough to play football in university. I had dreams of playing pro ball and finishing my degree. My hope was no longer solely in Jesus. I began to use him like a genie – grant me this wish, or make me like this, or let me do that. My hope now was on myself and my abilities to perform.

I had forgotten about the sacrifices that were made that afforded me the opportunities that I had. I forgot about the stable birth of Jesus Christ. I forgot about the human life that he lived and all that comes with it. I forgot that he was lied on, imprisoned, beaten, and killed… all to take on the sins of the world so that we would be one with God again. Our hope in Jesus is most definitely so that we will be able to, one day, be in Heaven with God. It is ALSO so that as we live on Earth, our fruits will be plenty, and our blessings will be bountiful.

After rededicating my life to Christ and learning more about our faith, my heart posture changed. Instead of God being my genie, he became my unwavering fire. He provided warmth when I was cold, he gave energy when I had none, he lit up my world when it was complete darkness.

I said I had dreams of playing pro ball when I first got to university. I unfortunately got injured in my first game and then academic issues took me out. After this, I suffered. I suffered because I believed that all my hope was riding on my ability to play my sport. I suffered because I believe that all my worth was in my ability to play my sport. Then Jesus got a hold of me again. He reminded me who I was, of who WE are. We are children of a King and with that, comes a great deal of blessings. WE have hope.

I was blessed to be surrounded by a great community that taught me about REAL hope! The hope and promise that we have in Jesus Christ, the power that we are given through the Holy Spirit and the opportunity to do his great work on this Earth while we’re here.

Fast forward a few years, some tough lessons learned, and some very big changes made to my life, we hit 2020. I know that we can all agree that 2020 threw us all for a loop. Corona shutting EVERYTHING down, racial unrest being unearthed in the US and, subsequently, Canada, protests, a lot of political changes that I’m convinced that no one actually understands the process of. But I can say that 2020 has increased my FAITH and my HOPE in Jesus Christ ten times over!

Brenda and I moved to Surrey in January and I was basically jobless for 3 months. When I tell you that my stress levels were HIGH…. Believe me… I was stressing but consistently saying “God has a plan…” Then COVID hits in March and while most people are shutting things down, God says to me “your faith has made you well.” Brenda and I got full time jobs working at a grocery store in West Van together. Things were good for a while, then God called me to the Church and in this position. The only reason I’m saying this isn’t to show how “hard work pays off,” or “I’m most deserving of everything I got,” but to really show how in JESUS CHRIST, we have a hope for salvation and a life that glorifies him.

Jesus suffered so that we may have a hope for tomorrow. Mary and Joseph suffered and gave birth to their hope. Life isn’t easy. Life isn’t fair. But there is always going to one constant. Jesus Christ.

Christmas is coming and with it, the excitement of the season is building! During this time, let’s try and change our perspective. Let’s be mindful of the promises given to us and what the birth of Christ really means – God sending his one and only Son to save a broken world; to give us hope.

And THAT is LOVE.