"Take Off" chapter two

CHAPTER TWO: HOPE
Growing up, one of the biggest hopes I would have on a yearly basis was our big family vacation. Going to Florida or Virginia or Colorado were the often the highlights of my year, and I suspect that it was for the rest of my family, too. We got to get away, going somewhere that was fun, far, and probably warmer. I think one of our biggest goals was just to escape what we were normally accustomed to—which is why going to a place just like where we lived just wouldn't cut it. We wanted our vacation to be a real getaway, nothing less.
I think that for many of us, our greatest hopes are never really greater than hopes like these. Our hopes so often are reflective of where are hearts are—and our hearts are so often bound to looking at the life we live in this world. Jesus says in Matthew 6:21, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Do you ever think about the implications of that? Everything that you value most is what your heart beats for. There are a whole slew of people who are living for today because that is where their hope lies. The hopes of many people are often found in big life events, such as going to college, getting married, finding a dream job, living a life of ease with plenty of financial resources, as well as maybe having grandkids someday and hoping to have a long life that evades thoughts of being mortal. This kind of hoping isn't wrong—I have these hopes myself—but this kind of hoping is so average and so much less of what God would have us hope in.
The last chapter really hit on the idea of faith. Hope goes hand in hand with faith, because if you don't have firm, discernable spiritual hopes, you probably struggle greatly with living a life of faith. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for.” If you have no hope, you have no substance of faith, therefore you have no faith. What are spiritual hopes that we can fill up our lives with? I'd say hoping to be faithful to God, hoping for the promise of heaven, hoping for the crowns of reward that are offered to obedient believers in heaven, hoping for God to change us, hoping for Christ to be magnified by our lives, hoping for the salvation of others, etc. etc. etc. Our hopes must be constituted by things that only God could do. Our hopes must be greater than the base, selfish hopes of this world. The great dividing line of a believer's hopes and an unbeliever's hopes lie within the bounds of eternity and temporal time.
Listen to this:
17 "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. 20 No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. 21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the LORD, and their descendants with them. 24 Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain," says the LORD.” (Isaiah 65:17-25)

Do you believe in such a day? It's coming—God's word makes that clear. Now, the second question, do you hope in such a day? Is this where your heart is? Or is it on obtaining the next coolest video game or college acceptance or job? If ever you find yourself struggling in your Christian walk, take an inventory of the things you're really looking forward to at that time in your life. It's very likely that your relationship with God is going under difficulty because your vision is only horizontal and not vertical. If you hope in temporary things, you may get what you're hoping for. When you don't, you may feel like God just isn't that good or life is just not what you'd like it to be. The problem of hoping only on things of this world is that the seventy or eighty years we may live may leave many of the worldly type of hopes unfulfilled. What if you don't get your “dream job”? What if you were never to be financially comfortable like you'd hoped? What if you died after college graduation? I had a friend from high school who went off to a training school offered by Caterpillar and graduated about the same time as I did from college. His future seemed to have a sense of security, purpose, and ease in time. It was probably one or two months after his completion of this schooling that he got into a friend's car that needed worked on, began to drive it home and lost his life driving at over 100 miles per hour when his tire blew that warm summer day. It was sad, tragic, something no one could prepare for, and perhaps so sudden that reality wasn't quite setting in for many people.
15 And he said to them, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." 16 And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' 18 And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' 20 But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."
(Luke 12:15-21)

Life can leave you unfulfilled in those temporary hopes—stop living for them! As crazy as it sounds, there's more validity in those spiritual hopes that you can't see than those hopes we all think are quite able to come to pass in this world. I may not live to see grandkids or days of financial ease ever, but I can hope with certainty that what God promises He will provide.
Likewise, don't be content to live a life where the only hopes you have are hopes that can be fulfilled here. I know this may sound like what I've already been saying, but the big deal here is that many believers only know how to hope for things that they've seen happen in the lives of other people around them. This can deeply affect our idea of what the spiritual life is alone! Take into consideration what Jesus says in the Beatitudes:
Matthew 6:1 "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 2 "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 5 "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 16 "And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
(Matthew 6:1-21, various emphases mine)

There are many things that could be pointed out from these verses, and the motivation of one's heart is strongly being addressed in these verses. I might add, though, that people whose hopes are only temporal do what they do in church often for the praise of others. Their hope is to be seen, commended, and thought highly of for their “spirituality.” This is not limited to Pharisees! It happens all the time in churches with people claiming Christ as their Savior, and they may all be the genuine article. This makes for very weak Christian people who hope not for the eternal rewards of obedience but the “get-it-now” praise of men. If you don't pray thinking of what people think of you, if you don't read your Bible for what people might say, if you don't sing in church because people listen and watch, then it is very likely that if you do do it, you are doing it for God. Our hopes have to be placed in things that last—and men's praise just doesn't keep going.
As I close on this chapter, I want to cause just a bit more thinking on your part on this idea of hope. There are times we walk in faith, we pray, we give up sacrificially to God, we do things for Him as He leads...and we don't see what we think to be a matching response on the part of God. Besides the fact that we lose sight of so many of the blessings He sends our way, I think that sometimes we forget that the principle of eternal reward doesn't always translate into a presently extravagant lifestyle. We may give and stay poor. We may give up our lives and leave this world in obscurity. We may pray prayers for years that do not seem to have any avail. Now think of this. Maybe, just maybe, as you “pray for rain,” it is raining where you're looking. Maybe you look at life on earth and think, “What a scam!” Does it not pass your mind that the “rain” may be a solid downpour in heaven? God blesses faithfulness and He does not leave His children as the underdogs of eternity—though they may in circumstances appear to be the underdogs of the mortal life.
“10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” (Malachi 3:10) I suggest that we pray and ask God to help us to hope for what He has to offer, not what the average life has to offer. Likewise, read your Bible, because this is where we find our spiritual hope spelled out. If you don't know your Bible well, it is likely that you won't hope for what you don't think about. Once again, “set your mind on things above”!!!