How to battle hopelessness...

 

I dreamt last night that I was in a stadium full of people who were challenged to profess the deity of Christ. One by one, they denied Him until I was the only one left. I was so discouraged that I buried the ‘proof’ of it in the ground and woke up feeling entirely hopeless.

I read until this feeling lifted then was reminded of another dream. I’m not a golfer but did have clubs and went out a few times. The dream was about playing a perfect game, even getting a hole in one. I woke up realizing why people golf. It is the hope of doing better the next time, of improving their game. 

Callaway says that each year more than 20 million people play on 13,000 courses in America and many new courses open each year to accommodate those who are hopeful. This is a bit better than describing it as a long walk. Hope is a Bible word where it is not just about a fresh start nor does it have anything to do with my goodness or ability. Instead it is believing in the unchanging promises offered to me by my Savior, Jesus Christ, promises like these: 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:3–9)

My realistic dream defined a dark, sad day, but God reminds me that He is true, even in the face of reality, never mind despairing dreams. Hope opens doors that despair slams shut. Hope looks for the good instead of the worst and turns problems into opportunities and fear into faith.

How is it recognized? I once wrote an essay on hope using the smell of cinnamon buns to illustrate that hope is like that; I cannot see the yummy buns but know they are there waiting for me. Yet hope Is no pie-in-the-sky illusion. It does not make me complacent, content to leave the world as it is by thinking about a secure future. Instead, it impels me to take hold of God’s goodness and share it with others, maybe not a stadium full of people but with those God puts in my life. 

Losing hope in a dream is not the same as losing it in reality because reality is the dwelling place of God’s promises. He tells me:

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, (Hebrews 10:22–24)

PRAY: Jesus, the way to beat this hopeless feeling is to focus on Your faithfulness and how You keep Your promises. Your goodness can turn hearts that seem pleased with their own misery, or those who seem to love their own wickedness. Hope can change the torment of Your conviction into welcome enlightenment, and change the fondness of our sin into a remedy to eradicate it. Your love and grace can make those displeased with their condition into the realization we are unable to raise ourselves from sinner to saint. No matter how far anyone falls, Your goodness can triumph over all blindness and sin and turn anyone from nothing to children of God. This is the hope that enables me to think of ways to encourage others to live for You in the hope that You give. Feeding them sweet buns might open hearts to Your message of hope; however, feeding on Your word fills empty hearts and turns unnecessary despair with joy that You set before me. You give me words to say and actions to do that bring hope to the hearts of others who need it like we all do.

How do I know He is alive?

Very few people have ever asked me why I believe in Jesus, or why I believe He rose from the dead. The devotional writer is a pastor, far more often on the ‘hot seat’ than I am; however, I have thought about this challenge. For me, there are two main answers. One is objective: the Word of God declares it. The other is subjective: what God has done in my life fits with what He promises to do, and almost all of that has been an unexpected surprise.

Piper makes a compelling statement about the Word of God by appealing to the trustworthy characters of those who were with Him when Jesus was on earth. He says:

“I find Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James, Jude, and the writer of Hebrews to be the sort of men I would trust with my life more quickly than a host of secular authorities. And when it comes to making sense out of the world (of guilt and fear and pain), the incarnation, the cross, and the resurrection of Christ go a lot farther than viruses or evolution. . . . The witnesses to Christ in the Bible have won my trust. Christ shines through their word with such compelling authenticity that I have yielded to him. No other way of seeing the world answers as many of my pressing questions as the Christian way.”

This is an appeal to logic. The Bible makes sense out of everything else. Yet there are many who think this is a book invented, even though most have never read it. It is in the reading that gives the second answer for this is what many Christians claim: they didn’t believe until God spoke to their hearts when they tried to prove the Bible is wrong by reading it. It is to this that Piper hints as he goes on…

 “There is a spiritual life God has given to me so that I love him and trust him and hope to be with him more than anything else. In this way we give expression to the reality of…” and then he points to a favorite passage of mine:

And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. (1 John 5:11–15)

Faith comes to Christians in the person of Jesus Christ. God gives us His Son and His reality is marvelously made known by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is with me. I know His presence just as I know the presence of others who live and are nearby. He is as real yet invisible as anyone that I can see. 

I know I have eternal life because of Jesus, but also because of the changes in my life. I know who He is, I trust Him alone for my salvation, my attitude toward sin and the self-centered rule of my own life has changed from me on the throne to Jesus is Lord. I don’t want to sin; I want to live for Him. This did not happen by my power. Ask anyone about their desire to yield all to the Lord; no one willingly does it until He changes their heart.

Add to this the experience of answered prayer and the evidence of God’s goodness and care for my well-being. He wants me to think and act like Jesus:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:28–30)

I cannot boast of any change in me because I must admit how much I’ve fought it. God does it anyway. He tells me to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12–13) He makes it happen, like a hand in a glove. My task is to cooperate.

PRAY: Jesus, even with those reasons, salvation is a mystery to minds darkened by sin. Refusing the basics hides logic, personal testimonies, changed lives. If I insisted on running my own life, You could have simply let me. I’m so glad and so grateful that You persisted and in grace brought me to knowing and loving the truth. I am a sinner saved because Jesus is real and  is alive in me. What a wonder!

Seek truth and defend it

The Bible tells me to contend or strive for the faith that was given to all genuine believers (Jude 3). This statement also reveals that God makes truth known to His people — and it is up to us to make sure it it not abandoned or forgotten, first in my own life and then in the lives of others who also know it.

In my years of leading Bible studies, I’ve noticed that when truth is spoken, most Christians do not argue with it. Some might say, “I know that, but. . . .” and express what is making that particular truth a problem for them, usually because of contrary circumstances. Just pointing out a promise from God or a truth related to their issue often changes the ‘but’ to a praise.

Teaching truth helps us spot any lies that bombard our minds and lives. While some might yawn at the word ‘doctrine’ it should not put anyone to sleep but wake us up. Doctrine is not based upon static and dead ideas but upon living truths to be cherished and defended.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16–17)

Doctrine is based not only on the Word  of God, but also on the character of God and correct interpretation of what He is saying. Sometimes even well-meaning Christians pick up a single teaching without considering the total teaching of the Bible. This is one reason that we need to be in communion with one another. Open discussion often reveals truth that I’d not seen before or that was interpreted without considering other sections of the Bible. I’m responsible to seek all that God says, not just the parts that appeal to me, and not just what I hope to be true.

Again, the Bible is its own authority. I can consider other authorities, but this is not an intellectual exercise. Reason and tradition play a role, but the most important consideration is that God uses His Word, both written and living, to reveal Himself to me and change my life. His goal is to transform me to be like Jesus.

Not only that, all other sources for understanding, such as personal experience, reason, or tradition must be judged by Scripture, not the other way around. If this is not held vital, false teachings and heresies inevitably follow. My relative who believes the Bible is the Word of God has nevertheless followed the teachings of a cult. Instead of Sola Scriptura (meaning Scripture alone is the final and controlling authority for all true Christian teaching and doctrinal formulation) this person trusts whatever his cult leaders say to be true.

Every Christian expresses their beliefs in some doctrinal form, whether highly developed or rudimentary. We must so we can “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.” (1 Peter 3:15) God reveals it and we defend it. False teaching is a constant threat to biblical integrity. Wisdom says:

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. (Acts 17:11)
Teach and urge these things. If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. (1 Timothy 6:2–5)
As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him. (Titus 3:10)

PRAY: Jesus, You are the truth and lies are so dangerous to me besides being contrary to all that You are. Because you live in me, truth is precious. While no one person can express all truth, I need to be willing to examine and be corrected by Scripture. Enable me to seek truth always, for in seeking it, I am seeking You and wanting to more deeply know You. Amen.

Hear it, Learn it, Do it . . .

God continually amazes me. Yesterday I had an appointment at the Pacemaker clinic for a regular checkup. I got there in time but the large parkade was full. I drove around it twice hoping to catch a space, but to no avail. So, I returned to the street, drove half a block to the Emergency lot. It was full too, but as I turned to leave, a large white truck left ahead of me, so I took his spot. Already late for my appointment, I ignored the payment machines thinking if I get a ticket, at least I will make my appointment. I ran.

The check-in process was quick, and I didn’t even sit down before my name was called. The orderly took me to the clinic, and within a couple a minutes, the technician called me in for the procedure. After telling me my pacemaker was working perfectly, I said something about God and this man responded to talk about his faith. We spent nearly half an hour sharing stories and praising the Lord. It was lovely. Then I returned to my car — no ticket.

Today’s devotional is about the power of Scripture to give God’s people what we need to guide our thoughts and actions. My first response is that God can use anything to teach me what I need to know — namely that He can grant my prayers for a parking space, but He can also say no because He has a better plan. With a staff of rotating technicians, He wanted me to talk to the right one, the blessing of rich fellowship with another Christian that I may have missed had I got there on time.

We learn by experience, yet without God’s teaching, my attitude would have far less calm when things were not going well. Because of this, I totally agree that:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (2 Timothy 3:16)

Without knowing the Bible, I may have pounded my fists on the steering wheel, been totally upset to be late, and too crabby to chat or discover a fellow believer who encouraged my faith in Jesus Christ. Scripture teaches me that God works all things together for my good, and getting hyped is not it.

There are no Bible verses about full parking lots and nearly missing important appointments. However, the Holy Spirit lives in me and the anointing that I received from him abides in me, and I have no need that anyone should tell me how to react to minor upsets and what to do about them. His anointing teaches me about everything and is always true. He never lies to me. I can trust and abide in Him. (1 John 2:27)

Not only that, I have the mind of Christ. I do not need to let my fears and foibles ruin my ability to think or misunderstand God, or be upset with Him, or in foolishness teach Him what I want Him to know! (1 Corinthians 2:16)

Yet there is warning in Scripture too. Having the ability to understand spiritual truth doesn’t guarantee I will obey what I know. God said to the Israelites through His prophet Hosea:

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. (Hosea 4:6)

In the revelation God gives of Himself, it is vital to realize, believe, and totally trust that He wants the best for His people. Disobedience demonstrates that I don’t know or don’t believe that. As MacArthur says, there are many who lament that they could have avoided much grief if only they had known the Bible more thoroughly — if only they had taken the time to learn what God expected of them in a particular situation. The only way to avoid that mistake is to saturate my mind with biblical truth and discipline myself to do what He says.

PRAY: Jesus, You never fail me. Even when I thought You would supply my need (for a parking place) You had a better plan and used the delay to create a situation for Your glory. Now we have a big day ahead of us and my prayer is that You will use the circumstances we face to draw us closer to You and to be glorified in our lives and the lives of those around us.

PONDER: Sometimes it is good to think of negatives, of what I would do if I didn’t know what the Bible said about many things. Tonight, we will be in a situation calling for wisdom and compassion. I need the mind of Christ and the prompting of the Holy Spirit to be able to do what God wants. I also need to be alert to my own ignorance and inability so I will say or do foolish things, but consciously rely on Jesus.