With the state of the world today, it’s easy to lose hope. But that’s only true if your hope is in the wrong place. If you were looking for hope in the life you thought you’d have, you may be out of luck for a while. But that’s not where we should place our hope. We suffer from a misplaced hope if our hope is not in Jesus. He is our true hope because we know how the story ends.
We know nothing will ever defeat His Church. What we need to do is take a long view of things. What we do today can be helpful for other Christians 200 years from now. It’s not about our lives right now. As people who are always looking forward to the return of Jesus, we should also be always working for the future of His Kingdom, not ours.
We’ve got to think bigger. We’ve got to think selflessly, not selfishly. This life isn’t about us and never has been. It’s always been about Jesus. Our mission on earth is to glorify Him and build His Kingdom. Nothing has changed. Some might say the work has gotten harder, but I’d submit we were simply taking it too easy.
You cannot look at the state of the world today and not see the Western Church became lazy and indifferent to what was happening around us. None of us are off the hook here. We each played our role. The good news is we can all play a role in preserving the faith those who came before us preserved for our blessing. The great men and women of the faith, and all of history, have always worked with an eye towards the future. They cared little about themselves, but were focused on the good of others. For this, we should be grateful, and in this, we should find hope.
I don’t know where the current trajectory of humanity will lead in the short term, but I can make some educated guesses. I do know humanity is ultimately doomed to destruction apart from Jesus Christ. This means everything you know today, or hoped to know in the future, is burning down. It will all be destroyed. So, we’re going to have to recognize we’ve had a misplaced hope. Our hope is in Jesus and His future Kingdom.
While it looks like the world is winding down around us, billions still do not know the saving grace of Jesus. This means we must build a future where people will be able to hear the good news of the Gospel. We must remain hopeful for better days or else there is no hope for the lost and dying around us. Let’s not have misplaced hope. Let’s hope in a future where many will come to know Christ. We can help build that future, but only when we get our eyes off ourselves and onto Jesus and His mission. Don’t give up. Don’t despair. Place your hope in what matters.