Something To Look Forward To

People sometimes say a specific thing keeps them going--keeps them excited about life or gives them something to look forward to. Often that is the next vacation or the next academic degree they will get, or the next career move/promotion or something related to a child's accomplishment. But what if those things might not be doable due to age or money or other reasons?

One thing that never gets old is learning about God and the Bible. The fact that the Bible is so large can be overwhelming, but it also has the blessing of having so much to read and learn about.

Due to our human nature, it's easy to feel we have read it all already or at least get the gist of the Bible and not want to do much more. But when we do sit down to read parts of it, it often fills us with comfort or makes us wonder more about life and how to really love others, or can help put us back in the right mindset.

There's also a lot of commentaries or recorded sermons that can help us understand parts we have questions about, or even ones that seem simple--a commentary can sometimes add another interesting point--like how it relates to other places in Scripture.

Unloving Advice

Often I see people give advice and tell another person that they are on the wrong path in this or that way. It is often that a person criticizes another's career path or direction they are taking, but offer no alternate path.

It is quite disheartening to be told that you are "on the wrong path" career wise or in another way but to not be told what the right path is. A critique with no superior solution is a worthless critique.

To say a solution is poor but to not have any idea of a better solution is at best a waste of breath and in fact more likely unloving. To criticize without giving hope is completely un-Christian in spirit.

We should build up others. If we cannot be building up and offering a better approach than it is best that we say nothing at all.

The church needs to lift its members up. For its members who struggle and seem to lack direction the church needs to be conscious to only provide uplifting support.

It is of no use for the church to tell members struggling with direction that their career path is suspect but offer no assistance. But in many churches today this is exactly what happens. No real help is offered to membership, but rather only judgement.

Hope

A great benefit and blessing for the Christian is hope. It ties in with joy. We have joy in part because we have hope that God's promises are real and will be fulfilled. Hope is believing in what we can't see (Romans 8:24). Hope is a confident expectation.

In everyday speech the word "hope" often takes on a different meaning than the meaning of Christian hope. Many times the word "hope" is used in, "I hope you have a good day." In cases like these "hope" means "wish." Wishes aren't things we know for certain, and that's a major difference between wishes and Christian hope. Words often mean different things in different settings.

When I was a child, I loved hearing the story over and over again of Simeon (Luke 2:25-35). He was waiting for the Messiah. "It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ." Each day he was growing older, but he waited in expectation. And he saw Jesus. What he hoped for happened. The Messiah was born.

What a great story. And one that we all can relate to. We have hope that we will see Jesus. We will someday see face to face what we now see in a mirror dimly (1 Corinthians 13:12).

We also have hope that he is there interceding for us at the right hand of God, and that he has sent his spirit to be with us every moment.

"Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God" (Psalm 42:5).