hopeful end to 07

Published by bryan | Filed under journal entries

30 DEC 07

I spoke tonight at an event here in Portland and in preparing the talk really boiled it down to the Gospel of Jesus. It’s been a while since I’ve done a talk that was simply the gospel, but man was it rewarding. I had forgotten how beautiful the essential message of Christ actually was. It was good for me to reflect upon, going into a new year, how much hope we really have in Christ. Not that we are already fulfilled by Him in full, because in Heaven we still have a wedding to look forward to, but the hope is still here and operating in us all the same.

I found myself reflecting on that hope, the hope we have in Christ, and I realized some of the greatest times in my life are times when I have had hope in something. If I were studying hard, I hoped in spring break, and if I was lonely, then I hoped in a new relationship that was blossoming. I have placed hope in a movie that would be coming out, in a sporting event of which I followed a team (Go Patriots) and some of those things worked out and some of them didn’t. But as great as spring break or a new relationship turned out to be, I think I have to admit the hope was even better. Reality can be a let down, as Solomon would say.

What I think is so remarkable about the hope we have in Christ is that this specific hope is promised to not let us down. God will come through even as He has promised He would come through. His hope will not disappoint, like so many other targets of false hope. And what is also interesting is that in light of the hope we have in Christ, all other things take their proper places, and we can see more clearly what they actually are, love for love’s sake, entertainment for entertainment sake, success in projects as fun and exciting, but nothing of eternal significance. Eternal hope for fulfillment is not in those things, it is in Christ alone. That perspective seems like it holds a lot of freedom.

And so the question I am asking myself going into 2008 is “what have I placed my hope in?” and I want that answer to become Christ all the more. My hope is in Christ. I’ll have to repeat it like a mantra so I won’t forget. May your hope be in Christ too. Happy new year, and all the love, peace, and hope of Christ to you and yours.

Don Miller

P.S.

Best book I read in 2007: Getting the Love you Want, Harville Hendrix

Best Album: Story, Brandi Carlile

Best Movie: Why we Fight

Best Moment: Dancing with my friend on the top of the parking garage at the airport.

Best Person of the Year: My pastor, Rick McKinley

Best Epiphany of the Year: That we can have hope in Christ, and that hope sustains us through troubled times.