Tag Hope

Two Words That Might Save Your Soul

Todd R 4 Comments

Being human is difficult, but sometimes a pause to reflect can make a big difference.  Ephesians 2:4 says: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us…”  Pastor James Boice jumps on those first two words as a key turning point: “But God! Here is where the beauty and wonder of the Christian gospel comes in.”

Ephesians 2 begins with people following “the course of this world,” chasing whatever “passions” and “desires” came to mind.  Before “but God”, we were all “dead” (v 1) and “by nature children of wrath” (v 3).  All of our efforts are doomed to failure.

The story does not stop there.  For God’s people it never does.  After “but God”, we have been made alive together with Christ (v 5), we are shown the immeasurable riches of His grace (v 7), and we are enabled to do the good, meaningful works He has prepared for us (v 10).

When we wonder whether this world is all there is and that this is the best we can do, we respond “But God…” When frustrated with yourself, with others, or with the world in general, bring to mind the words “but God.”  These words are relevant to every situation because He has not left things as they are, but He intervened through Jesus on the cross and through His Spirit in our lives every day.  “The words ‘but God’ show what God has done. If you understand those two words – ‘but God’ – they will save your soul. If you recall them daily and live by them, they will transform your life completely.”[1]

Call the words “but God…” to mind whenever you’re overcome with negativity.  Say “but God…” to others who are struggling.  For every situation, He can fill the “…” with hope if you pause and give Him the opportunity.  But also, when you see God’s blessings in your daily life, think “but God” because He has not left us alone.

[1] From “November 7.” James Montgomery Boice and Marion Clark. Come to the Waters: Daily Bible Devotions for Spiritual Refreshment.  (2017).

Faith Takes More Than Proof

Todd R 1 Comment

When writing his gospel, John had an objective in mind.  As he wrote in John 20:31, he was recording Jesus’ miracles and signs “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.”

What was John’s objective?  To persuade anyone reading “that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.”

In the same book, John says that many were not convinced by miracles:
“But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report?  And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” – John 12:37

John says this failure to convince was intentional on God’s part and a fulfillment of prophecy.  John claims to be a first-hand witness of many miracles performed by Jesus, climaxing in the resurrection of one Lazarus, who was apparently dead for so long that “there is a stench” (John 11:39).  John spends a lot of time setting the scene — many people had gathered to comfort Martha and Mary, the sisters of the deceased — pointing out that Lazarus had his own tomb, which indicates he was probably affluent and well-known – and so on.  This miracle was to be very public.  The result when Lazarus came out?  John says many believed in Jesus, but many others did not believe, and some even saw Him as a threat – resulting in His crucifixion.

So John, writing for the specific purpose of creating belief, tells us the ultimate miracles are not enough to generate belief in everyone.  “Proof” does not always convince, and those who disagree hold their beliefs as strongly as those who agree.   Whatever your beliefs, have you ever been frustrated when someone just won’t come around to your view, no matter what you said?  Would you be more frustrated if you were told that any argument you could make wouldn’t be good enough?

Some deny miracles because of a purely naturalistic worldview where the supernatural is not allowed in.  Miracles do not exist, and never did.  In this view, mankind was created through an unknowing process of natural selection and is a type of animal, although perhaps a special animal.  These people have just as much conviction as I do.  I could argue against those views, which really are what G.K. Chesterton called a “dogma of materialism” because proving it would require disproving every claim about a supernatural occurrence that any human has ever claimed.  This is, of course, impossible.  The dogma of materialism is a matter of faith, however much proponents of evolution and other “scientific” ideas claim overwhelming evidence and vast consensus.  It takes faith to fill in the gaps in the evidence.  Those who disagree with me are obviously willing to accept these gaps.

On the other hand, we have the oral and written testimony of many people reporting many supernatural things over the centuries.  This includes John’s records of many first century miracles.  However, John also testifies that a man raised from the dead was not enough to convince the skeptics on the scene.  This man, Lazarus, even became the target of death threats, because he was evidence that threatened the well-being of those who made their living off the established religion.

There is more to proof than meets the eye.  There is more to life than cold reason.  People have reasons for believing what they do and acting how they act, and the Apostle Paul says “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood…”  (Ephesians 6:12).  Therefore, nothing I can write, do, or say is guaranteed to convince anyone, but I take heart that Chesterton also wrote: “When I fancied that I stood alone I was really in the ridiculous position of being backed up by all of Christendom.”


If you are a Christian – what argument can you make that is better than raising a man from the dead, then following that up by raising yourself from the dead?  If Jesus couldn’t convince everyone, the best anyone can do is follow Peter’s advice to “in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.” – 1 Peter 3:15-16

What are the reasons for the hope that is in you?

Is God Asleep? – Songs of Ascent #5

Todd R 2 Comments

Does it often seem like God is asleep at the wheel?  Like He is not relevant to the real problems we face in the world?  Today we continue on the Songs of Ascent, a liturgy used in ancient Israel to prepare for worship at the annual festivals in Jerusalem.  While not part of the Ascent, Psalm 119 precedes it, praising the law of God in the longest chapter of the Bible, and the Ascent begins in Psalm 120 with God’s people living in a world that remains broken even with a perfect law.  In the last post of this series, I wrote that Psalm 121 “asks us to take our eyes off of the world around us and look upward for our hope.”  Verses 1 and 2 say:

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
            From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
            who made heaven and earth.

As these pilgrims looked to the hills, what did they want to find?  Did they expect to find a better group of people?  No, they brought their community with them on the long journey, along with all their baggage.  Did they travel in search of a better law?  No, they had the law God had given them.  Did they travel to Jerusalem to give penance for not keeping the law?  No, they came to find real help for real problems that exist within themselves and in their communities. This help could only come from the LORD.

Then verses 3 and 4 say:

He will not let your foot be moved;
            he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
            will neither slumber nor sleep.

Why does the Psalmist need to say this?  Because even God’s people can doubt that He is interested and cares about tangible problems.  When we focus on our circumstances, on the people around us, or even on God’s holy law, we can miss the power of God.  It can seem like God is asleep.  Like He is not relevant.  The Old Testament prophet Elijah mocked the powerlessness of the Canaanite storm god Baal in 1 Kings 18:27 – “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”  We don’t say this out loud, but sometimes we wonder where our own God is.  If we don’t take the time to intentionally look for Him, it’s easy to think He is asleep.

In these Psalms, God calls us to worship in a central place as a reminder that no matter what the world looks like, He is awake and at work in the midst of very real problems.  In ancient Israel, sacrifices were offered at the temple as a sign of Jesus’ future sacrifice, which provided reconciliation with a God who requires justice, which is our deepest need.  After making the perfect sacrifice, Jesus rose again to give us power to love our neighbor, meeting their needs.

Pilgrims didn’t go to Jerusalem to pay God a visit, then leave him behind when they went home.  They went because God provided a way to remind them that He was always with them in the places they came from, but if they don’t take the time to be reminded, they remain discouraged in their circumstances.  Likewise, on our Sabbath day of rest, we remind ourselves that He is never sleeping, but has been working for the salvation of His people since the very beginning of creation.  His people are the very people we congregate with.  People who are not saved by Psalm 119 and find themselves participating in a Psalm 120 world.  People whose circumstances tell them God is asleep, and who need help with their Monday to Saturday problems.

Here we come to perhaps the most difficult point. Elijah’s mocking is also echoed in criticism of the church today, both from those inside the church and outside.  Where is God in the midst of real problems?  What does God offer above laws and rituals that cannot perfect us?  The pilgrims also could have criticized the other pilgrims.  Those arriving in Jerusalem certainly had among them people who thought the law was the answer.  There were also those who went to practice their religious rituals, check the box, then get on with their lives as they saw fit.  Sometimes the church looks little different than the circumstances we find ourselves in where we live, but that’s nothing new.

The LORD calls us to Him and gave these Psalms to let us know that He is not asleep, no matter what it may look like to us.  The world will more clearly see God as their help when His people lift their eyes up to the hills, go to Him in public worship, and bring back His help to their communities.  This is how they will know He is not asleep.

Therefore, the liturgy of the Psalms of Ascent points us beyond all laws, doctrines, traditions, and institutions, to the help that comes to us from the sacrifice of Jesus, foreshadowed at the temple in Jerusalem:

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
            From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
            who made heaven and earth.

Work, Labor, and Steadfastness

Todd R 3 Comments

Many are familiar with the Biblical triad of faith, hope and love from 1 Corinthians 13:13, which says: “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”  In this verse, Paul is calling these 3 characteristics the most important, with love above the other 2.

In another of Paul’s letters he joins this triad with another one.  1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 says, “We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”  He’s saying that faith and works go together, that love and labor go together and that hope and steadfastness go together.  But how do they fit together and do the 3 relationships have anything in common?

When I think of these verses, I see faith, hope and love as the causes of the other 3 characteristics.  Faith motivates works.  Love motivates labor.  Hope motivates steadfastness.  Without the first thing in each pair, it’s hard to consistently have the second thing.  Let’s look at them in order.

The interaction between faith and work is a tricky one, but paraphrasing John Calvin, we are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.  In the New Testament book of James, he wrote “someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”[1]  Our Savior spent His life on this earth ministering to others, and if we believe in Him as who He actually is (our God), our faith in Him will naturally result in us ministering to others as He did.  Thus, faith motivates us to work as Jesus worked.  Otherwise, it is a dead faith.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Paul also noted the Thessalonians’ “labor of love.”  The “love” here is more than an emotion or feeling.  It’s the love (agape in Greek) that is a self-sacrificing concern for others.  Any others.  G.K. Chesterton said, “the Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.”  True love is hard, like labor.  Strong’s Greek dictionary describes the word translated “labor” as toil that wears us out or even causes us pain.  A labor of love is when we serve people so much in love that it wears us out.    Agape love motivates us to labor for others.

The last pair is the “steadfastness of hope.”  In my experience, hope is only useful when it is steadfast.  If we lose hope when things go wrong, we lose the ability to see beyond our current circumstances to our future in Christ.  Its only when we are able to keep our focus on Christ even in tough times that our hope is steadfast and shows its true value.  In the 2 letters he wrote to the Thessalonians, Paul referred to the second coming of Jesus at least 6 times, which would remind them that their hope is sure and won’t fail them.  Just like the Thessalonians, we need to be reminded again and again of where our hope lies in order to keep living for God.  Hope motivates steadfastness.

Today, if Paul were to write a letter to your church, would he note their “work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ”?  I pray that for my church, including me, he could.  Pray the same for you and yours.

“We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

[1] James 2:18

Hope’s Anchor

Todd R 4 Comments

Sometimes we fall into a pattern of trying to rely on our own merit to please God.  We try our hardest to do everything we think He wants us to do in order to earn His love.  We live like the classic hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness” was changed to “Great is My Faithfulness.”  We put our hope in our own efforts to earn our salvation.

Hebrews 10:23, which says “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” helps explain why we’d much rather have it be “Great is Thy Faithfulness.”  This verse reminds us that He is faithful and is worth putting our hope in.  In contrast we are often unfaithful and disappoint ourselves, falling short of the ideals we strive to achieve.  We can hold fast to our hope, because it’s based on His promises.

Earlier, Hebrews 6:19 says “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain” where “this” refers to the promises of God that were fulfilled by the life of Jesus and give us access to God’s presence.  Counting on our own faithfulness is like being on a ship that attaches its anchor to itself, and the captain wonders why the ship keeps drifting uncontrollably.  So, as the verse says, we must attach our anchor to something else (God’s promises), because an anchor is only as good as what it’s attached to.  Something solid is needed, and God’s promises in Jesus are a solid, unchanging thing we can cling to at all times.

If we relied on our own faithfulness for salvation, every time we disappoint God, we would have to worry about losing our salvation, our place in God’s family.  We would have no security, no way to avoid “wavering.”  Our faithlessness discourages us, but His faithfulness gives us hope and strength.

God is faithful and worthy of our trust.  As the hymn declares about Him:

“There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.”

We can “hold fast” to Him in all times and in all circumstances.  All of the Old Testament testifies to God’s faithfulness toward His people, and the New Testament testifies to the fulfillment of God’s promises in the life and work of Jesus.  Therefore, His faithfulness is backed up by centuries of history, and through His grace, He offers salvation to His people.  As Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God”. Even our faith is a gift from God, based on His faithfulness, not ours, and given in His grace.  When our faith wavers, His does not.

Therefore, thank God that our hope is in His faithfulness, not in ours.  Our faithfulness is far too uncertain, but through the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus we inherit Christ’s own merit in the eyes of God and couldn’t please Him anymore no matter what we do.

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful”

“Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father”