Hope

One Bible lexicon defines the Greek word for hope (ἐλπίς) as a “joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation.” In his letter to Roman believers, St. Paul adds to this definition: “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” And then in his letter of encouragement to Titus he speaks of “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

So the Christian meaning for hope goes way beyond vague wishful thinking (“I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow”) and is grounded in a deeper sense in the certainty of what Jesus promises us if we put our faith in Him. 

We are all mortal and one day we will die. The Bible teaches us that humans were intended to live with God forever, but because of our stubborn pride we rebelled against Him and are separated from Him physically (can't see Him) and spiritually (can't know Him).  When Jesus came to Earth He provided the way for us to be reconciled to God. We need to recognize our own sin and separation from God, realize that Jesus provided the way to deal with our sin by dying on the cross, and put our trust in Him.  If we do this Jesus says that after we die we will live again with Him.  That's the Christian hope.

In essence, hope is the ultimate reason for believing.

Peace

This is the third installment in my “10 Reasons to Believe” series. In the introduction to the series I mentioned that the Bible talks about peace in a very broad and holistic way using the word “shalom” which covers more than just physical safety from harm, or the lack of fighting. Rather than unpacking why we all seek this kind of peace, here are some lines I wrote to try and convey it:

Peace 

Against the wars and fighting, give us peace
Against anger and violence, give us peace
From oppression and fear, free us
Give us peace 

Against an uncertain future, give us peace
Against the unknown, give us peace
From worry and fear, free us
Give us peace 

Against quarrels and strife, give us peace
Against hurtful accusations, give us peace
From misunderstanding, free us
Give us peace 

Against my selfish pride and greed, give us peace
Against my own destruction, give us peace
From my scarlet red sins, free us
Give us peace 

Oh Prince of Peace, give us peace
Precious Lord Jesus, give me peace.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

Peace with God and peace with those around you are very good reasons to believe. That’s what Jesus offers if you’ll accept it.

Joy

The United States Declaration of Independence includes this very famous sentence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

I’m not sure if it needs to be stated, then, that pretty much everyone wants to be happy and that it’s natural to seek happiness. Unless you’ve had a truly terrible life with a messed-up perspective on reality, happiness is something we all want. Indeed when life is beating us down and it feels like the world is on our shoulders, we might cry out “I just want to be happy.”

Happiness and joy are closely linked, but in Christian circles we make the distinction that joy is something that comes from within and is not necessarily predicated on external circumstances. It’s a fruit and a feeling that comes from who you are, and not what is being done to you.  Now you can for sure feel joy and happiness when good things are happening, but when things turn bad, happiness disappears in a moment. Joy remains. Joy endures.

Another way to think about joy versus happiness is in your perspective on life based on what you give versus what you can get out of it.

Get the Most out of Life

The modern philosophy of life is pretty self-focused and all about how you as an individual can feel the best you can.  There are many self-help books and articles providing guides on how you can be more fulfilled and happier in your life.  Not to knock this kind of “pursuit of happiness” too much, but I’m not sure it can deliver on it’s promises. No matter how “mindful” you are or how much you try to use “positive psychology” when life gets tough, I don’t think these ideas have the staying power many people are seeking and ultimately are not fulfilling.

Life Giving Spirits

I once heard the teacher Robert Lewis state that men have a choice to either go around sucking as much out of life as they can, or, alternatively, seeking to be what he called “life giving spirits.” This was part of a series called “Men’s Fraternity” that has since spun off the “Authentic Manhood” movement.  This idea clicked with me wanting to be a person who seeks to be the source of joy, rather than being the one that consumes happiness.

So how do you do that best?  I’d argue that in order to be that conduit of joy, you need to connect back with the ultimate source, who is God, as the Bible says:

looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

So if you want to know God’s joy in your life and be a source of joy to others that sustains through good times and tough times... that’s a very good reason to believe in Jesus and trust Him.

Choose Joy

To wrap up this blog, I want to share this video. Sorry Pharrell, but I picked something a little more empowering than your well-intentioned and catchy sentiments. I choose...

If Jesus didn't die...

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins... 
If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied...

If Jesus didn't die, then do whatever you want. 
If Jesus didn't die, then say whatever you think.
Live for yourself, or live for others. It doesn't matter
If Jesus didn't die.

If Jesus didn't die, then seize the day or stay in bed.
If Jesus didn't die, shoot for the moon or aim at nothing.
Just do it, or just don't
If Jesus didn't die.

If Jesus didn't die, make your own choice.
If Jesus didn't die, choose your own path.
Survival of the fittest or live by the Golden rule, even
If Jesus didn't die.

But He did, and He came back to life.  
So now what are you going to do?

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Love

I think it’s sad that the picture portrayed of Christianity is often one of judgmental people with a “holier than thou” attitude and wearing their “Sunday best” clothes who shun outsiders with hateful scowls. This is a gross caricature and the exact opposite of what Christ taught. At the heart of the Christian gospel is love.

I’m not very good at praying consistently and so I’ve developed the habit of using Bible verses to help my wandering mind to focus on what really matters. A scripture I pray often is this one from St. Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus. It’s a bit long, but bear with me (emphasis is mine):

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭3:14-19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

 In the middle of this prayer is the admonition to be “rooted and established in love.” As Christ’s followers, then, this is where we start. We start with love.

But what is the nature of this love from Christ? This same prayer includes two of its features: (1) it is immense, and (2) it’s impossible to fully wrap your head around it.

“How wide...?”

Jesus said "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." And so during His time on Earth he demonstrated His love through His compassion for the sick and the lost, loving on children and loving His disciples. The Gospels are full of these stories of His practical demonstration of God's love for them.  But He goes on to say "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." OK, so that's something more.  Paul expands on this in his letter to Roman Christians: "For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die - but God shows us His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." So here then is the breadth of God's love.  Though we turn from Him, hide from Him and rebel against Him, he still sent His only son to rescue us.  And the nature of that rescue? He had to die for us. Quite literally and horribly, He had to die for us. And He did it. That's the breadth of His love for us.

“Love that surpasses knowledge...”

But it's hard to comprehend this love fully, I think.

If you're a parent or have a very close friend, you can perhaps imagine putting yourself in harm's way to protect your loved one. That's a glimpse of God's love for us in Christ, but His love is much more. John said "God is love," that is to say, love is at the very core of God's nature. In creating the Universe in the first place; in bringing life into existence; in giving us life individually, He shows His love.  In giving us free will to choose or not choose to love him back; in sending His only son to die for us; in raising Him from the dead so we can have eternal life too, He shows His love. In painting a beautiful sunset; in the laughter of a child; in the company of friends or family, He shows His love. With the still small voice of His Spirit speaking to mine when I calm my mind and pray, He shows His love.

I'm still figuring out the height and depth of God's love and I'm quite sure I'll never fully get it.  But maybe that's the point. I don't need to understand it fully, but I just need to accept it.

So, in my top 10 Reasons to Believe, for sure this is number 1.  I might go as far as saying I personally don't need any other reason than this one, but I have another 9 to go, so we'll see!

A not so old hymn from when I first became a Christian in the 1980's, still speaks to why I personally became a Christ follower:

Amazing love, what sacrifice
The Son of God, given for me
My debt He pays, and my death He dies
That I might live, that I might live! 
By Graham Kendrick

10 Reasons to Believe

About a year ago I did a series of blogs entitled "10 Reasons to Not Believe."

Having looked at the Christian faith from a negative angle, and trying to provide arguments against not believing, in 2019 I thought I'd take a shot at looking at some very significant and positive reasons actually to believe.  So here are my "10 Reasons to Believe" which I'll list here with some brief explanation. In subsequent weeks I'll attempt to unpack each one a little further. As always, comments and critiques are welcome.
I'm not a philosopher, nor a theologian, and so if I've overstated something or missed the mark completely, please let me know in the comments. Equally, if something resonates with you, please also let me know, either in the comments or responding to me privately.  Scripture tells me to be "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" and that is my intent.

1. Love

In my early Christian walk one of the things that captivated me the most about the Gospel was how much God loved me. Possibly the most famous scripture in the Bible is John 3:16. Perhaps it's sometimes overused or not fully understood, but the weight of the words, if you break them down, are tremendous:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

Alongside this scripture is another that describes the facets and outworking of real love in 1 Corinthians 13 that includes the words:

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

Paul wraps up this part of his letter by clearly stating "The greatest of these is Love." I agree!

2. Joy

Elsewhere in scripture there's a description of the facets of "the fruit of the Spirit" which starts the list with: "Love, joy, peace, patience..."
Joy is similar to happiness, but distinctly different in that the source is from the inside out and not outside in.  In other words, happiness depends on external forces and circumstances whereas joy comes from the inside no matter what the circumstances.  The joy that God gives through His Spirit when you trust in Him, is a very compelling reason to believe.

3. Peace

The Hebrew word for peace in the Bible is "shalom."  This word has a much deeper meaning than simply the absence of conflict, conveying the idea of wholeness and, if you like, an "inner peace" no matter the circumstances around you.  If you're suffering from inner turmoil or angst, then this peace, which scriptures call a "peace beyond all understanding" is a gift that makes trusting in Jesus a very good reason to believe.

4. Hope

Hope is a concept I've grown to appreciate over the years more and more as I've walked with Christ.  The Christian definition of hope isn't wishful thinking ("I hope I win the lottery") but more of a certainty that God has a plan and that He wants us to be part of that plan, here on Earth and beyond.  It's tied to faith and being able to trust in God. He is trustworthy and His promises lead to hope of a future that is very good.

5. Relationships Restored

God is relational but our relationship with Him and with those around us, is broken.  If we turn to Him, trusting in Jesus and what He did on the cross, then He restores our relationship with Him.  Beyond this, He also enables us to restore and improve relationships with those around us: family, friends, coworkers... even enemies!

6. Community

The older I get, the more I appreciate being part of a community of believers. Having lived in 3 different corners of the world, it was wonderful to be able to join a local church, to get to know people and to encourage one another through life's ups and downs.  Life is not easy, but doing life together is so much better than trying to tough it out alone.  Our home church here in Pearland is awesome in this respect: a truly loving community of Christ followers looking out for each other. I love my church!

7. Logic

What? Don't you need faith to believe? Is that logical? I'm a strong advocate for a reasoned faith. When you look at all the evidence for life and its meaning, then the Christian explanation is, to me, the most logical.  The evidence and reasoning isn't water-tight (that's where the faith bit comes in), but compared to other worldviews I think it is the most compelling.

8. Eternal life

It might be surprising to see this so far down the list order. Escaping Hell and looking forward to an eternal life with God is a pretty compelling reason to believe. Shouldn't it be number 1?  I guess it's personal and the order doesn't really matter, but for me it was love that compelled me initially, though fear of what happens after death was certainly part of my salvation story!

9. Reward

 Tied to the promise of eternal life is the reward of what we'll receive when we get there. We're encouraged by Jesus to seek treasures in heaven and not hoard wealth here on Earth.  The stuff we try to gather in this life will only wither and die, break down or rust.  It makes more sense to seek after the stuff that's destined to last forever.

 10. A New Creation

Wrapping out my 10 reasons to believe is the opportunity for a new start on a journey as a new creation.  The Bible puts it this way: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. " No matter who you are, or what you've done in the past, Jesus offers a new start to anyone who turns to Him.  The last item on my previous list argued that no-one was "too far gone" to be rescued and redeemed by Christ.

OK, so there's my list of 10 reasons to believe.  What did I miss?

Working with the Spirit

In a previous blog I mentioned that in order to grow as a Christ-follower you need to work with the Spirit and foolishly said I could write a whole blog just on the topic! In that same blog I said that people try to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps to try to be "good people" when they really need to let God do the work to shape them. A couple of friends called me on this (thanks Mary!) and said I should write it. So here goes...

... but maybe a quick disclaimer first.  I'm not a pastor and I've never been to seminary. So the thoughts here are drawn from my own personal experiences of what I've read in scriptures, what I observe around me, and what seems to have worked for me over the years.  There are nuances to how you work with the Spirit in terms of what you do versus what He does that I might miss when making general statements but my hope and prayer is that you'll see the need to let God lead and we follow...

Self-help; help yourself

“God helps those that help themselves” is not a biblical quote. While the Bible does warn against laziness in several places (my favorite being "If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat"!) the idea of us having to initiate the change we want to be is not Christian. There are numerous self-help books and motivational speeches that are fine in themselves but their origins are usually from humanist thinking, psychology or even eastern religions.

Now I'm not knocking the self-help movement if it works for you, particularly if you're not a Christian and you simply want to improve yourself. But it doesn't work for me. Worse still, if you are a Christ-follower then I think there's a danger of missing the whole point of how God wants us to live now, trusting Him for everything.

I can see two dangers with a Christ-follower trying to improve themselves through self-help (i.e. not working with the Spirit):

1. Faking it. If we act like Christians, adopting some habits that are Christian, going through the motions of what Christians are supposed to do with the goal of being nice Christian people, I think there is a real danger of becoming counterfeits. To the outside world we look like we've got it together, but inside or in private perhaps we don't.
2. Frustration. You keep taking two steps forward and then three back as you try to live up to the high standards listed in the Bible or the social norms of the people around you (maybe some doing number 1 above faking you into thinking they've got it figured out and pressuring you to do the same). You'll be forever beating yourself up when you slip back into old sins and maybe give up altogether.

Of these two dangers, I think #1 is the most insidious and most dangerous for the church.  Superficially it seems right to be "acting Christian" but if we are just "acting" then it's not real, it dishonors God and often turns people away from Christ. We miss the point that God, through Jesus, wants us to have a relationship with Him, not practice a religion about Him.

4 keys

Alright then, so I've said we shouldn't take the self-help approach, and previously I mentioned the need to work with the Spirit. So how do we do that?  The old fashioned name for this is "sanctification" and there are numerous writings about this. But I'm a simple fella and like to boil things down to just a few points (mostly so I actually remember them!)  Below are 4 keys, drawn straight from the Bible that have helped me most in understanding how to work with the Spirit.

1. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. If there's any work to be done by us, then it's not to act a certain way or develop a better character trait, but primarily it's to seek God; to spend time with Him.  For me the best way to do this is what has been coined by many as the “Quiet Time” i.e. setting aside a time to visit with God to pray, read and ask the Holy Spirit to help you. Ideally you do this every morning as a minimum and make it a priority before anything else.
2. Be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Give the Spirit material from which to draw by putting good stuff in your head. Read your Bible and read inspirational books. Listen to music and lyrics that turn your focus to God and not the world.  Listen to podcasts or watch videos with good, sound teaching. Watch inspirational movies. Another excellent scripture says... "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Oh and turn off the TV and change the radio station while you're at it!
3. Walk by the Spirit, ...not gratify the desires of the flesh. Here's a radical pivot point for this blog.  Don’t do whatever you feel like (in your flesh). Don't “just do it”, but seek the guidance of the Spirit to do what He wants.  There is a tension between our earthly desires and what the Spirit wants us to do.  In obedience to God, recognize the tension and ask Him to guide you.
4. Not neglecting to meet together.  Be part of the body of Christ.  Jesus loves the church which should be reason enough to want to be part of it - warts and all - but there's also the practical aspects that you can hit items 1 and 2 above to draw near to God and have your mind transformed much easier if you are part of a good church, plus you get the encouragement you need to walk by the Spirit alongside others.

In wrapping up this blog, I should give full disclosure that I'm a 48-year-old work in progress and although I know these keys and generally follow them, I mess up plenty of times. Then I rely on the fact that "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." My walk with Christ is about deepening my relationship with Him. It's not about fulfilling religious duties.