So my church is going through this series called “Conquer.”
It’s about sexual bondage, and it’s really good. Yesterday was session 4 (out
of 5).
One of the things that struck me during the video was this
statement:
A man without a
future will always go back to his past.
I can’t even begin to count how many times that has been me,
going back because of unresolved issues in my past. As the saying goes,
As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly. (Proverbs 26:11)
It also brings to mind another profound quote:
A man with nothing to
die for has even less for which to live.
(Doing some perusal on the internet, this quote is closely
related to some similar statements made by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but
that’s off-topic.)
(In other words, to what
are you so sold out that you would be willing to die for it? As the short film, Ticker, puts it, “What would
you fall on your sword for?”)
During the group time afterward, I mentioned that I heard a
podcast or teaching where God asked this man what he was looking forward to in
life -- and that I don’t really have anything that I’m looking forward to.
Someone mentioned that they have always had a dream of owning
a small ranch with an orchard (he lives in the suburbs).
This is a middle-aged man who has a family, so it’s not like
he can just up and move.
But it got me thinking about someone who has dreams that go
unfulfilled in this life: they aren’t as attached to their present reality.
To use this man as an example: because he has dreams that’s
he’s looking forward to (owning a ranch), he’s not overly attached to his present
reality (living in the suburbs) -- because it’s not what, deep down in his
heart, he truly wants.
I also thought it was quite timely that the Ransomed Heart
Daily Reading for that day was “Risk Dreaming.”
Even though the passage is from a book targeted at young women, some of the
concepts spoke to me:
I encourage you to risk dreaming
and writing your dreams down. Once you get started, you’ll find there are
things you want. And if you can’t get started, another approach is simply to
begin listing the things you like. What do you like? From the fragrance of
lilacs to a comforter before a fire to laughing with friends, it’s nourishing
simply to become aware of what you enjoy and to write it down.
It’s good to sit with God in the
quiet and ask him, What do I want? And ask him, What
do you want for me? (One
of the things I was advised to do after sharing that I don’t really have any
dreams of my own was to ask God for some. I re-shaped that into asking God for
the dreams that he has for me. You can see how the meeting and this daily
reading are lining up in my life.)
Awakening and owning the dreams
that God has placed in our hearts isn’t about getting stuff or attaining
something. It’s about embracing who we are and who he has created us to be.
In him. He is our dream come true and the one true love of our life. But we
can’t love him with our whole hearts when our hearts are asleep. To love Jesus
means to risk coming awake, to risk wanting and desiring.
THE LIFE TO
COME
This is easily extrapolated into eternity because someone
who is eternally minded will not be overly attached to their possessions in
this life. This is because they know that everything will pass away, and that something
better that they will never lose is also on the horizon.
As the missionary Jim Elliot said -- who was killed by the
very people he was evangelizing --
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.
As followers of Christ, we’re called to renew our minds with
this mindset, anyway:
If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. (1 Corinthians 15:19)
The fact that if we believed that the only hope in Christ
that we have would be in this life makes us pitiable leads me to believe that we
should also have hope in the next life.
Why?
Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor
[has it] entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for
those who love Him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)
The reason we should hope in the next life is because we can’t
even begin to imagine what God has in store for us:
Now I saw a new heaven and a new Earth,
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no
more sea. (Revelation 21:1)
A new heaven and a new Earth.
That bit about there being no more sea?
The reason we have so much water covering the Earth is
because of the Flood -- which was a judgment of man similar to what Peter prophesies
that is in store for the end of the world:
For this [the world] willfully [forgets],
that by the word of God the heavens were [created], and the Earth standing out
of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished,
being flooded with water. But the heavens and the Earth which are now preserved by the
same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of
ungodly men. (2 Peter 3:5-7)
Because the world will be burned, God must restore it
(Revelation 21:1).
BUT WHAT ABOUT
THIS LIFE?
That’s all find and dandy, hoping in the life to come. It’s
easier said than done, that’s for sure.
But how do we apply it?
Therefore gird up the loins of
your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to
be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:13)
“Gird up the loins of your mind”? Here’s a great explanation
from Art
of Manliness:
Back in the days of the ancient
Near East, both men and women wore flowing tunics. Around the tunic, they’d
wear a belt or girdle. While tunics were comfortable and breezy, the hem of
the tunic would often get in the way when a man was fighting or performing hard
labor. So when ancient Hebrew men had to battle the Philistines, the men
would lift the hem of their tunic up and tuck it into their girdle or tie it in
a knot to keep it off the ground. The effect basically created a pair of shorts
that provided more freedom of movement. Thus to tell someone to “gird up
their loins” was to tell them to get ready for hard work or battle.
To gird up the loins of your mind is to prepare to think
differently about how you approach life -- because let’s face it, life is hard:
“I have told you all this so that
you may have peace (of mind) in me (because of the hope you have). Here on Earth,
you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have
overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
“But take heart…”
In order words: Hold on to hope. It's going to be a battle, and it's going to be hard, but it's possible.
TRIALS AND
SORROWS
Therefore, since we have been
made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God
because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our
faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we
now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s
glory. (Romans 5:1-2)
The first thing that should give us peace of mind is that we
have been made right with God through Jesus Christ. This leads us to the hope
of sharing an unending life with him after this present age passes away.
I recall hearing about a woman in Asia who ministers to
women caught up in sex trafficking. Unfortunately, she’s not able to rescue
them from their circumstances because they will be hunted down and murdered.
Because of this, she can’t use the “Jesus has a plan for your life” model that
is so prevalent in Western church culture.
This requires her to present the gospel in light of its full
context: that this world was created perfectly, man fell, and that God will
restore all things in due time.
The gospel she
presents does not focus on this life, but on the life to come.
Which leads me to the next part of Romans 5:
We can rejoice, too, when we run
into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And
endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens
our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to
disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has
given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. (Romans 5:3-5)
Let’s work backwards from this one:
God has given us the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). The Holy
Spirit fills our hearts with the love that God has for us (Romans 5:5).
Knowing that God
loves you will bring more peace and hope than you can imagine.
God’s love gives us the ability to bear our problems and
trials well; this develops longsuffering (“having or showing patience in spite
of troubles, especially those caused by other people”). Longsuffering enables endurance,
and is part of the “strength of character” that develops within us. His love
will also sustain us, which is the hope that will not disappoint.
HAGAR
This is how Hagar was able to go back to serve Sarai (she
wasn’t “Sarah” at this point). You see, Sarai wasn’t able to have children, so
she gave her servant girl, Hagar, to her husband, Abram, so that they could
have children that way (Genesis 16:1-3). But when Hagar became pregnant from
Abram, she treated her mistress with contempt, and so Sarai mistreated her to
the point where she finally ran away (Genesis 16:4-6).
As she was running away, an angel found her and told her
that she was to return to serving her mistress. However, he also let her know
that her cries of distress had been heard by God, and that she was to name her
son “Ishmael,” which means “God hears” (Genesis 16:9, 11). Her son -- who was
given to her by a man who slept with her, likely against her will -- was to be
a continual reminder that God heard her cries.
Thereafter, Hagar used another name
to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God
who sees me.” (Genesis 16:13)
Despite the fact that she returned to serving the man who forced
himself on her and the woman who hated her, she had peace from God to endure
her “trials and sorrows” (John 16:33).
BUT WHAT IF
YOU CAN’T SEE IT?
It’s most certainly easier to hold on to hope if God is
moving in your heart and the Holy Spirit is speaking love to you.
But what about those times when you’re dry? The times that
you’re in the desert and feeling alone?
God has already planned for those times:
For whatever things were written
before were written for our learning, that we, through the patience and
comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. (Romans 15:4)
“…patience and comfort of the scriptures”?
There will most certainly be times in life when you’re in a
fog or your head is spinning from the difficulty of your circumstances. Your
subjective reality is murky and you’re having trouble seeing clearly (or at
all).
This is why the scriptures are so important: they ground us
in an objective truth that we’re not able to see at all times, to remind us of
a deeper reality beyond what we’re currently experiencing.
Knowing this, we are able to patiently endure our “trials
and sorrows”:
For we were saved in this hope, but
hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But
if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
(Romans 8:24-25)
This is why it’s so important to allow the Holy Spirit to
pour out God’s love for you in your heart, because love “bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1
Corinthians 13:7).
This is also why Paul urges us to “rejoice in our confident
hope; be patient in trouble, and keep on praying,” that “the God of hope (would)
fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by
the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 12:12, 15:13).
WRAPPING IT UP
What I “hope” you are seeing at this point is:
- in this world, you will have trials and sorrows (John 16:33),
- which means that we need to “gird up the loins of our mind” and change how we think and approach our life (1 Peter 1:13);
- that the Holy Spirit pours out God’s love to us (Romans 5:5),
- that this love gives us the ability to patiently endure “trials and sorrows” (Romans 15:13),
- that this patient endurance develops character in us (Romans 5:3),
- that the development of character strengthens our hope (Romans 5:4),
- that, even during times when we don’t feel God’s presence, we can re-ground ourselves in the truth of the scriptures (Romans 15:4),
- that God will make a new heaven and Earth that we can’t even begin to imagine how good it will be (Revelation 21:1, 1 Corinthians 2:9),
- that we can hold on to the hope that God will make all things right because we are in right standing with him (Romans 5:1-2),
- that those who approach God believe he exists and that he gives generously to those who seek him (Hebrews 11:6, James 1:5).
If this speaks to you, some other resources I would
encourage you to check out Sacred Romance and/or Desire by John Eldredge (you can also download & listen to the Sacred Romance & Desire conference sessions). There are a couple series of podcasts from Ransomed Heart as well (downloadable from MediaFire):
“This is my command -- be strong and courageous! Do not be
afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me.
Here on Earth, you will have many
trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
(Joshua 1:9, John 16:33)
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