Remain Hopeful
The day after the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris caught fire, I received a call from an old friend because we had a connection involving the Cathedral.
Allan, my friend in college whom I mentored, came to our apartment one night around dinner time. As we walked to the dining hall, Allan talked through his dilemma. He had a 6-page paper due the next morning, but all the resources he had checked out of the library six weeks prior (and never looked at) didn’t have any information on the topic he had submitted to his professor. Plus, these were the days before the internet, so he couldn’t do research online.
His topic was to report on the organ in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris (a very specific research topic!). Since he didn’t have any relevant information and there was no time for interlibrary loans, he decided that he was going to call the Cathedral and interview the organist.
My rational brain kicked into problem-solving mode, so I started asking him questions.
Dan: “Do you remember that there is a time difference between here and Paris?”
Allen: “Awwwww… no.”
Dan: “Yeah… so it’s the middle of the night there. You’ll have to wait until about 3 am to make the call, do the interview, and type your paper by your 8 am class. Do you think you can do that?”
Allan (after a pause to consider this new information): “Yeah. I think I can do that.”
Dan: “Do you have the number for the Cathedral?”
Allan: “Awwww… No. But I can call information” (again, this was in the early ’90s before cell phones and the internet).
Dan: “That checks out. But what if the organist isn’t there?”
Allan: “Awww… (Pause for thought). I’m sure they can give me his home number.”
Now, my wife Jen was not having it. She is amazingly fun, optimistic, and positive. But she’s also in touch with reality, so she was starting to lose patience.
She asked the next question.
Jen: “Allan, do you speak French!?!”
Allan: “Awwww… no!” (Looking to Jen…) “Do you?”
Haha! You should have seen the look on Jen’s face when Allan basically asked if she would interpret an interview for him with a French organist at 3 am when he had known about this research paper for months!
Here’s the point. No matter how many realistic factors we threw in Allan’s way, he remained hopeful that he had found a solution to get his paper written.
Our hope, as believers in Christ, is different from Allan’s hope. He hoped that he would get a chance to interview the organist at the Notre Dame Cathedral. Could he actually have gotten to talk to him? I suppose, but there was a very small chance of that happening.
As believers in Christ, our hope is founded on the stable, unchanging nature of God. It’s not unsure or uncertain, like the hope the world has when they say, ‘I hope…’. Our hope is certain.
The author of Hebrews wrote, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Heb. 11:1, NIV)
In the next two chapters, the author reminds his readers (and us!) that we have placed our faith in the sure foundation of an unchanging God who leads an unshakeable Kingdom. That is our true home. This unstable, uncertain world is not our true home.
Because of that, we are encouraged to “Let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
And “do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord… For the Lord disciplines the one he loves. He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness” (Hebrews 12:5-6 & 9).
The author of Hebrews continues by saying that, in coming to Jesus by faith, we shouldn’t refuse His discipline, guidance, and direction, like others have in the past. He even tells us that God’s voice once shook the earth and will shake it again (12:26). His purpose is to remove that which can be shaken so that those things which cannot be shaken will remain.
“Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.” (12:28)
Dear Saints, this world is constantly throwing new information at us in an attempt to derail us from keeping our eyes fixed on our true Hope. But the God of Peace, and the Great Shepherd of the sheep, who can never be shaken, has promised to be with us. As we start a new year, keep your eyes on Jesus. Let your life show your trust and hope are in Him, and don’t let the world deter you from the certainty of your hope!