City Life Starter

Written by Paul Lane

The Word

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Chris Jesus;

who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself…

…a people for his possession, zealous for good deeds.

Titus 2:11-14

Exegesis

C. S. Lewis wrote, “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world, were just those who thought most of the next.”

I find this quote very inspiring, but you should also know, God is not really giving you a choice here, regarding heaven.  Oh, sure, you could read a passage like Revelation 4:1-11 from time to time and try to imagine what heaven will be like, and then say, “I thought of heaven today.”  But I am not sure that really gets you there.  While this is an image that you should carry with you all your life, you could still just think of it as a picture and not as the place you belong.  This vision of heaven must become home for you.

It strikes me as interesting that C.S. Lewis puts Hope in a book called “Christian Behavior”.  He calls it a Christian virtue, which means that it is not an emotion, but rather something much more permanent and fixed to the person.  If this is true (and I think it is), this hope is something to be acted upon, rather than it being something that one waits on, to see the effect take place.

So, we should hope? 

Yes, of course. 

I think everyone knows that they should hope, but what should we hope for?  In what should we place our hope?  These are the real challenging questions.  Some may think it wrong to hope for a new car, a better house, a better job, or even dessert after a nice meal.  I do not think there is anything wrong in any of these hopes, especially if maple syrup is involved.  But these things are of a type that can only satisfy certain earthly hopes and desires.  They are the form of the thing, but not the thing itself.

There is a specific redemption that God intends for you, and that redemption is wrapped up in a specific type of hope.  It is a hope far beyond maple syrup.  It is a hope that stretches your expectations and promises to exceed them.  It is a hope that changes who you are, and in doing so you become more of who you were intended to be.  This is the redeemed life fulfilled.  This is the hopeful life.  This is the life that changes history.

Application

Suppose the definition of depression was the struggle against joy.  This would imply that joy is the natural state of man and that there is something perturbing that state. Spend some time thinking about things that perturb you or press you down. Note them, observe their source, and then pray to either overcome them or that they be removed.  Be willing to accept that it might be something you do not need any more.

Prayer

Dear Lord, teach me how to carry heaven in my heart, that I may come to know my true home with you, that I may see your hand on my life, and that I may more clearly understand that I represent your kingdom in this world with my words, thoughts and deeds.

Amen