Safe But Stagnant - How Hope Changes Everything

Note: This post is 617 words.

I have found that, as Christians, we are really good at talking about what Christ did, and what He has saved us from.  He died the death we deserved to die.  He lived the life that we should have lived.  These are glorious truths that ought to permeate every word we say.  But these truths are not all of the truth.  They are not all of the Gospel.  They are not all of the Good News.

I confess.  I have paid little attention to the hope of glory.  I have spoken much about what Christ has saved us from; but very little about what He has saved us to.  And I don't think I am alone.  I have read and heard very little concerning, what the Apostle Paul deems, the very foundation of Christian faith and love (Col 1:1-5).  As a result, I believe we have become, what I call, a "safe but stagnant" people.

Consider an analogy to clarify.

Imagine that you are walking on a rope-and-plank bridge like you see in fantasy movies.  It is common that in these movies, especially ones filled with action, one side of the bridge is detached by an adversary, while the good guys are hastily making their way across.  As the bridge hangs there, the people hold on for dear life.

Let's drag the analogy into our context.  If one side of the bridge is faith (in what Christ has saved us from) and the other side is hope (in what Christ has saved us to), then the middle of the bridge is the Christian "walk" of love.  If the adversary detaches our hope, we are left holding on to the hanging bridge.  We are safe because it is still attached to the faith side.  But we are stagnant because we no longer have hope.

Hope is not something foreign to everyday human experience.  People are always placing their hope in a future day - a vacation, a new job, graduation, retirement, a dream house, etc.  And once these things are "seen" as something that can be realistically obtained, lives are drastically changed.  People begin to live differently now because of the hope in the future.

Those who have a vacation in view become more frugal with their resources.  Take the vacation away (no hope) and they spend money more frivolously.   When a guy gives a girl an engagement ring (the "down payment"), they both are encouraged to abstain from sexual relations (obedience) as they await (during the wilderness) their honeymoon night (the future "consummation").  Take the glory of the "consummation" away, and immorality seeps in.

When we understand that there is a guaranteed future glory, we are more willing and encouraged to endure the struggles and temptations of this present wilderness.  When we lose the hope, we become like the church in Corinth - we "eat and drink for tomorrow we die."  Without hope we are more prone to pragmatic wandering.

I have a dear friend who is homosexual.  He cannot fathom living this life without the hope of a satisfying same-sex relationship.  Sure, the Good News of what Christ has saved us from will do him well.  But the Good News of hope, of what Christ saves us to, will serve to encourage him to endure this present wilderness, so that he might gain the ultimate satisfying reward in glory.  He needs to hear about heaven.

When life is seen through the lens of our hopeless imagination, sex sits exalted on the throne as the pinacle of human pleasure.  But when life is seen through the lens of Christian hope, sex is merely a shadow that will one day fade when the Son comes in His glory.